Photo: Panasonic DMC-GF1, Lumix G-Vario 7-14/4 ASPH, 7mm f/7.1, 1/1000 sec. ISO 100.
Last Barn Standing
We pass this barn every day (sometimes four times a day!), because it's on the way to school, and looking at it makes me a little sad, reminding me of the song by Chris Cunningham and John Hermanson, Paradise Lost. In fact, that song was inspired by Bozeman's rampant development.
The Paradox
I've lived in Bozeman since way before the condos here were built, or even the streets around this barn were put in! I'm sure I live in a neighborhood that once looked like this, and heck, maybe my house sits on the site of an old barn, too, so I'm pretty cautious about being judgmental on issues such as development.
Quality over Quantity
But that doesn't mean that (a) it still makes us sad, and (b) realtors (and developers, and bankers, and...) played pretty important roles in promoting the mortgage crisis, and thus, the recession. Of course, it still remains the buyer's fault, I reckon, but it still makes me feel a little funny when realtors market their financial success in terms of how many millions (or in the case of one very famous Bozeman realtor, billions) of dollars in deals they have closed. I think when I shop for my next realtor, I may wanna know how many families they pushed into mortgages they couldn't afford. Or, maybe I really don't.
It's funny how a single image, captured on film, evokes so much emotion, and internal conflict. Unfortunately, I'm only smart enough to ask questions rather than propose a dogmatic fix. Ultimately, the issues captured by this single image are both problems, and solutions, for real people.
Everybody wants / A little piece of paradise / A house upon the hill / With a view of heaven
Posted by: samh | November 20, 2009 at 08:02 AM
I agree with your sentiment totally. My dad died about 5 years ago at the ripe old age of 87. He lived a full life, had 5 children and now 12 grandchildren and 10 great grandchildren. He kicked the first field goal ever in Auburn Universitie's football stadium. I say all that to bring up this point. I'm 57 and I'm sad to admit that I really never thought about the legacy or message of my Dad's life until I was standing in the funeral home at his visitation. Sad isn't it. Well, I have done a lot of thinking about that since then and have realized that the most under valued asset in our society is the old; people especially, but the "message from the past" as well. We have become so "stuff" oriented, that we have forgotten the things that are truly of eternal value; relationships, wilderness, living simply. Well, maybe the current crisis may force us all back to that. I don't think that would be so bad.
Posted by: Doug Smith | November 21, 2009 at 08:27 AM
I'm seeing the same thing almost everywhere I go. Last summer I was in Pinedale, WY, seeing once viable cattle ranches broken up into multi-million-dollar housing developments. The most amusing was an enormous log mansion built out in the middle of nowhere, not a tree in sight, sandwiched between two Wyoming Highway Department drift fences. Having grown up in Wyoming and being well-acquainted with its winters, I had a big laugh at that one!
My own area (NW Oregon) has grown exponentially, with apartments and fancy developments (3,000 square foot houses on tiny lots) going up everywhere. Now, though, I'm seeing every fifth or sixth house in my neighborhood listed for sale.
A year ago, a few days before my [former] bank was seized by the Feds and given away to an enormous multinational banking firm, I received the last of the at-least-weekly junk mails from the now-defunct bank advertising low, variable-rate mortgage loans with no down payment. I just wish I'd saved it as a historic document!
Posted by: Hikinggranny | November 21, 2009 at 04:25 PM