This morning I spent a few hours at Starbucks catching up on work. At around 10AM I met with Howard and we drove to Downtown Denver. We parked near the edge of Downtown and walked a few minutes to Confluence Park. Confluence Park is a small park located at the confluence of South Platte River and Cherry Creek River.
Located along the river near Confluence Park is a century-old brick building which was the original railroad station in Denver. The building has since been refurbished and now houses an impressive REI and Starbucks location. The REI location is overflowing with character, with characteristics such as a fireplace, 50 feet open ceiling floor plan (with mezzanines, floor-to-ceiling rock wall, and floor-to-ceiling towering red brick walls.) The Starbucks is similarly character-filled and impressive.
After visiting Confluence Park, we decided to go out for lunch. Parked between the Capitol Building and the City/County buildings, there was a street filled with over 20 food trucks, with foods ranging from Pizza, tacos, ribs, mediterranean food, ice cream, vegan food, ethiopian food, and more. I ended up ordering a slice of Caprese Pizza and Ukrainian Dumplings. After eating lunch on the lawn, Howard and I parted ways and said our goodbyes, as I walked across the street for a 1pm tour of the capitol building.
The tour of the Capitol building was very interesting, factual and inspiring. Much of the credit should go to the tour guide who was very enthusiastic and knowledgeable about even the smallest details. The thorough tour ended at the dome on top of the Capitol Building. From the dome, there are 360 degree views of Denver and the surrounding Rockies/Mountain Peaks.
After the tour of the Capitol Building, I walked to the Museum of History, which contained exhibits including: Denver A-Z (Alphabetically-arranged exhibit), the dust bowl, Native American History in Colorado, Hispanic History in Colorado, African-American History in Colorado, the Rocky Mountains, homelessness in Colorado, history of Japanese Intermittent camps in Colorado and more.
It seems that the reasons people live in homelessness are primarily the following:
- Victims of domestic abuse
- Lost job
- Felony convention (tough to find a job)
- Addicted to drugs/alcohol
- Adventure/Free-spirit
- Death/sickness of family/supporter
- No family/friends
- Mental Issues (PTSD, bipolar, etc.)
- Too ashamed to ask for help from family/friends
The main point of the exhibit was to raise awareness about homelessness in Colorado. Homelessness isn’t always due to bad decisions and laziness. It may be due to situations outside of one’s control such as an abusive relationship, mental issues, death/sickness, addictions, or a bad decision from a while back which led to a felony conviction. It’s a good idea not to judge homeless people, but rather to show them compassion, and strive to treat them with dignity.
However, I really didn’t like a phrase on one of the papers in the homeless exhibit: “Panhandling is one choice people make to get by. What they earn varies – it’s not a reliable source of income.” Really!? Earning an income!?
Another exhibit at the museum described the “Dust Bowl” of the 1930s.
What was the dust bowl?
On a regular basis during the drought of the 1930s, loose soil in farming areas was blown by the wind, creating strong, darkness-creating dust storms in the midwest which ruined crops, killed cattle, and ruined the livelihood of many farmers and residents of the Midwest.
What are the conditions that led to the dust bowl situation?
- High wheat prices during WW1
- Invention of plows and other mechanisms for loosening up soil efficiently
- High Debt carried by farmers, thereby leading to high fixed costs of production, and forcing high levels of crop output
- Drought (Lack of water to utilize farmland efficiently)
- Boom and Bust commodities economy
- High winds
What are some interesting facts about dust bowls?
- Grasshoppers became very numerous, because none of grasshoppers’ predators were able to survive in the dust bowl region. These grasshoppers ruined crops, clothes, and other materials
- The thickness of dust storms creates a thick darkness (similar to what I would imagine the plague of darkness was like). It’s also interesting note that the Torah also has a grasshopper plague…Is there a connection?
- During the dust bowl, 60% of the population left the region
- The dust was moved through electrostatic energy. The dust had a static charge that attracted more and more dusts at higher and higher speeds. The dust clouds eventually reached 10,000 feet elevation and 65 miles per hour
How could the dust bowl have been prevented?
- Is it possible to disallow borrowing on business equipment/real estate? Would that even be a good idea? I think the real estate market would be much more fairly valued if all transactions were all-cash, un-leveraged transactions. The prices of properties would be less susceptible to artificial swings that are caused by changing interest rates.
- Widespread scientific knowledge of dust storms and how they form
- Earlier government involvement in remediation efforts
How was the dustbowl situation resolved/fixed?
- Widespread scientific knowledge of dust storms and how they form
- Government intervention and promotion of remediation programs
Although the Salton Sea is only 250,000 acres compared to the 150 million acres which were affected by the dust storms of the 1930s, there can still huge dangers because of the toxic chemicals located in the dust underlying the Salton Sea.
http://www.desertsun.com/story/desert-magazine/2016/01/31/desert-magazine-turning-tides-salton-sea/79433474/
http://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2015/11/the-airborne-toxic-lake-event/414888/
What can be learned from the dustbowl situation of the 1930s and applied to the Salton sea situation?
- Early Government intervention into creating solutions (citizens and the private sector can’t be relied on to solve the problems)
Another exhibit at the museum paid homage to Ralph Carr, Colorado’s Governor during WW2. Governor Carr went against public opinion and agreed to accept Japanese prisoners and house them in intermittent camps. One of his speeches contained the following sentences: “An American citizen of Japanese descent has the same rights as any other citizen… If you harm them, you must first harm me. I was brought up in small towns where I knew the shame and dishonor of race hatred. I grew to despise it because it threatened [pointing to various audience members] the happiness of you and you and you.” This may not seem like a big deal, but going against public opinion requires extraordinary levels of confidence and determination.
After spending a couple of hours at the History Museum, I walked to 16th Street Mall, an outdoor shopping district in Downtown Denver which has many similarities to third street promenade. One of the main differences is that buses provide free rides up and down the center of 16th Street. This is convenient but also very dangerous. Because of the identical patterns of the sidewalks, road, and center median, it becomes very easily to wander in the middle of the road and directly into a bus’s path of travel, especially if someone is preoccupied with electronic devices or their own thoughts.
While walking on 16 Street, I ate a “linner” at The Protein Bar, a supposedly healthy fast-casual restaurant. The meal was followed with a Cheesecake Caramel Apple from Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory, which was delicious and sweet, although probably not worth spending $10 on.
(http://www.theproteinbar.com/location-details.html?loc=1600glenarm16thst.mall)
After, I walked to a bar on 16th Street where there was a Meetup event for 20 and 30 year olds. I saw some of the same people as yesterday including Dana. The millennial crowd in Denver is very interesting, hip and well-educated. It has been great meeting people in the last couple of days.
While walking today, I came up with the quote, “If your personal slope is slippery, it will always be slippery. It’s not possible to chase the short-term dopamine and maintain an easy balance of long-term moderation, because the same mechanisms that caused you to chase the initial dopamine reward will always be there trying to drag you deeper and deeper into the chase of short-term dopamine. There’s no satisfying and quieting that urge. You’re either moving away from that addiction or closer to it”
