Staunton Green 2020

Right up there with New York and San Francisco, good old downtown Staunton comes in with an 83 out of 100 in the walkability index, making our humble hamlet a much desirable place to live in relation to assorted amenities such as restaurants, coffee shops, retail, theaters, schools, libraries, churches and so on. That’s great for the bottom line, and our bottom lines.

So get off your bum and head out to do the town if you live here, and if not, put Staunton on your list of possible vacation or relocation spots when you start calculating how to amp up your quality of life as the energy-environmental crunch starts descending upon us even more.

Staunton offers just the kind of place to move to because The Queen City is gorgeous, with blocks upon blocks of affordable, gracious, beautiful architecture surrounding its downtown, which is itself right smack on the rail line. I’ll say more about why you should move here and what kinds of businesses you should open in a future entry.

But interestingly, after more than a few months of soaring and fluctuating gas prices, and increased consumer costs, where news and commentary has focused on the high price of keeping our fuelish American lifestyle afloat, a bit of a backlash has erupted. It seems the thought of driving less, living more simply, and getting out into the fresh air for a walk has more than a few people hunkering down to mount a defense against more conscious living.

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Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah!

Gas prices are down and that must mean only one thing…its time to part-ay like its 1999!

That’s right, clearly good behavior in response to 4 bucks a gallon gas has reduced demand which has in turn brought prices down. Uh, er, ergo…that signals the cheap availability of fossil fuels for centuries into the future, right? Right! The faucet’s on, the taps is-a-flowing and its time to vacay in the minivan way at a savings of .17 cents per gallon!

Road trip!!

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Staunton, Virginia, a.k.a. “The Queen City of the Shenandoah,” burst from quiet prosperity into bustling prosperity in the 19th century on the boon of well developed roadways linking local communities in the Valley and through its position as a prime spot along the early railroads.

Like so many old Southern towns, the rail networks around Staunton today seem merely to be romantic background decor, echoes from the past lumbering and clanging in steel coupling whispers as freight boxes make their way along the skirt of the city by night and by day. Its a comforting sound of continuity buffering the pace of modern change in an otherwise technologically-driven, information-heavy, go, go, go world.

But there is a greater comfort to rail hidden in its antique origins. (more…)

Where most other cultures are distinct in the elements that unify their people, American culture often feels simply diffuse, or worse, defined by the thin veneer of “have a nice day,” corporatism. What have we got beyond strip malls, hamburgers, Nascar, football and bottle blondes?

Well, Jazz, modern dance, Levi’s, hot dogs, tramp art, cinema, lodge style, cowboys, and everything crunchy-nutty California, to name just a small few of our precious cultural assets. And if you can feel the love, there’s a whole lot more.

Most of all what we’ve got going on is the culture of cool. If that wasn’t true then the whole world wouldn’t want a piece of us. They do, and not simply to thrust the long arm of jihad down our arrogant big mouths.

The whole world wants our cool because…well, because we’re cool. And if you think that’s a solipsistic argument just try talking George W. Bush out of the case that he’s a leader because he leads.

I don’t have to prove we’re cool. Just look at us. As the Fonz says, “Heeeeey.”

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