| The Creative Expressions of... Bill Vivrett |
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| Updated 01.27.06 |
| SORTING MYTHS FROM REALITY IN THE WEST THAT NEVER WAS _____________________________________________________________________________________ It is important to note that: �This whole cowboy era lasted only about 30 years. �The cowboy couldn�t shoot straight and had no desire to learn. �His work was hard, cold, dusty and always potentially dangerous. �His hours were long; his pay was low, his fringe benefits and pension�non-existent. Another myth to be dispelled is that of the frontier town and the life there. The life was dreary, lonely, drab, dirty and monotonous. Without the stabilizing, civilizing influence of girl friends, wives and mothers, frontier men let them- selves go, smoked and drank too much and gambled away their wages. With very few families and probably no church or school, the typical town at first consisted of little more than saloons, brothels and maybe a boarding house. Town life was hot and dusty in summer, cold, grimy and muddy in winter and boring all year long. So, whatever happened to the American West? Nothing. It simply never really existed the way we mythologized it. ____________________________ Copyright 2004 William Vivrett ____________________________________ |
| Whatever Happened To The American West? |
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