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| With apologies to the 1961 American musical romantic drama directed by Robert Wise & Jerome Robbins |
—Chuck Smythe
Reply by Shirley Skufca Hickman
I left Colorado because I hated the cold. My two sisters, my parents, and I lived in a two-bedroom home. Not wanting to continue to share a double bed with my two sisters, I turned a bare walled attic room into my bedroom. The only heat came from the kitchen downstairs, but if someone closed the door to the stairs, the water in my glass turned to ice. We had no car so I walked to school, a mile away. As soon as I left the house, my nose started to run. By the time I arrived at school, my lungs hurt, my eyes watered, and my cheeks burned. I returned home for lunch and supper. If I had play practice (I was in 11 plays in high school and 12 in college), I walked another two miles to and from it. On most days I walked seven miles unless I got a ride. I felt the mountains hemmed me in, and later I found I was allergic to pine trees. The first time I saw the ocean, I said, “This is where I belong.” In California I can be at the beach in a few hours, go to the mountains in an hour, and travel to L.A. to see shows, art museums, and opera. When someone mentions the valley heat, I agree it is uncomfortable at times, but I reply, “I don't have to shovel heat.”
Chuck, as a Tulare, Californian, why do love Colorado so much? —Paul Clark
Reply by Chuck Smythe
There was never a chance I would stay in Tulare. I wanted to do research in astronomy, and as far as I know there was no job like that anywhere in the Valley. I went to Colorado for grad school. I found in Boulder that I could do that sort of work within a short walk of Mountain Park and the University Music School, and within an hour’s drive of a national park, two wilderness areas, and two ski areas. I could follow all my passions without ever seeing a freeway. This was especially important to me because the first time I saw California’s San Fernando Freeway, I knew it was Mordor. No one should have to live like that.
How did this column come about?
Reply by Moristotle
Emeritus staffer Paul Clark recently pointed out that “sometimes follow-up comments on a column are as interesting as the original column, and sometimes they raise questions that don’t get answered.” He had a suggestion for me:
How about a “Back Story” (or some such) column that leads off with such a question and answers the question, keeping in short, say 125-250 words, if possible. It would be under the byline of the person the question is addressed to.
For example, I was thinking of Chuck Smythe’s leaving Tulare for Colorado & really loving Colorado, contrasted to Shirley Skufca’s leaving Colorado. Why did one “flee” Colorado while the other was so drawn to it?
Ditto for Ed Rogers’ recent mentions of meeting Jon Lindbergh & of being stalked by wild dogs. There’s got to be some more very interesting stuff there. And Chuck asked me to say more about how I knew Paul Newman & Hunter Thompson. (At least Chuck would like to know how I knew them.)
| Copyright © 2020 by Shirley Skufca Hickman,Chuck Smythe, Moristotle, Paul Clark |
Thank you first, Paul, for suggesting this column. Or maybe first thank Chuck, for asking some questions that prompted you. Or Shirley, for writing a book about someone willing to leave beautiful Colorado mountains for flat San Joaquin Valley? Thank you all!
ReplyDeleteYou’re welcome. It was fun.
DeleteShirley, nice summation about Cali vs Colorado, and that last line about shoveling heat is one of the greatest ever. Drop the mic. Excellent!
DeleteI've been to Colorado, in fact my wife has family in Colorado Springs. As for me, a summer visit is fine but I don't like cold weather and playing in snow doesn't even make my list of things to do for fun. I grew up in Southern Texas and we did New Years on the beach: now that's what I call winter fun.(smile)
ReplyDeleteThanks in advance, Ed, for your own upcoming “Side Story,” in reply to Paul’s question about that pack of wild dogs....
DeleteAnother thing I should have mentioned: I was starving for music in Tulare. I was never meant to live where the high school band was the hot act in town. In college, Pasadena was better but not great. Colorado isn't exactly a center for great music (though Caribou Ranch was a big rock&roll center in the 70's.) However, the Tacacs Quartet (mentored by the Budapest Quartet) moved to town a few years after I did, and I've been just fine on that front ever since
ReplyDeleteIn a way it’s ironic to say one starved for music in Tulare (unless you mean live music), for our beloved history teacher Al King virtually gave me the world of classical music in his gift of several albums of 78-rpm records, which I listened to over and over on my $30, 3-speed Columbia turntable. Without Tulare and Al King, I may not have known to buy season tickets to a concert series at Yale my freshman year.
DeleteAlas, Al didn't feed my music. Or invite me on his backpacks. Funny, I'd have said I had a good relationship with him.
DeleteAnyway, Dianne and I pooled our resources to buy one or two albums a year. Played them with a $5 turntable I found in the used electronics store, soldered to the volume control on my ancient $10 Philco short-wave. Between us, I recall scoring Beethoven's Violin Concerto, the 5th, 6th, and 7th symphonies, The Rite of Spring (a particular favorite), the William Tell Overture, and Miles Davis' Sketches of Spain (another big favorite). I'm sorry to say this was about half of my musical education through high school.
Caltech had a free concert series. One. Being a Yalie had its advantages.
Darn, I wasn’t invited on any backpacks by Al either, or by Mo Knudsen, for that matter (unlike Jim Rix). Why Al offered ME his old 78s (and not you) is a question I guess we can’t know the answer to. I wonder whether ANYONE ELSE (besides me) got any? Must have, because, as I remember, he had SCORES of albums.
DeleteIt’s sad to think that you and Dianne could pool only enough money in a year to buy one or two albums. And here I was thinking I was poor!
Many of us here in the East regard California as mecca, and Colorado as a pretender: a place full of mountains--yet a TON of summer heat--and equally full of people who are full of themselves and their hip mountain coolness. I used to race mountain bikes in Colorado, and it was sort of like California, excpet for no ocean anywhere, and trails that often seemed better suited for rock climbing than biking, and people who always rated themselves better bikers, no matter how badly you beat them. If you live in the East, and you want to go west, you head for California--and you settle for Colorado if you can't make it to, or make it in, California: at least that's always been my perspective.
DeleteThat said, a big WOW to Chuck for presenting a great case for Colorado vs Cali. I couldn't imagine what you would come up with in the way of a rational explanation for leaving California and actually preferring Colorado, but you did it. And very nice touch dropping in Mordor.
I grew up in California. Love the land. It was paradise twenty million people ago. Colorado still has more elbowroom. And MUCH better skiing.
DeleteSome people think they're cool, in any state. Not my problem.
Chuck, I vividly recall attending a "spring fling" style very late-season ski event in Colorado, and while I can't say the skiing was all that great, I can attest that the scenery was beyond wonderful and some of the creative, beach-inspired "ski" outfits were spectacular.
ReplyDeleteMy guess is Arapaho Basin. One of Colorado's first ski areas, and the least industrialized. At 12,000 feet, it often holds snow far into the summer, and has a long tradition of spring parties in the parking lot. At one such, I witnessed a guy hurtling down Palaviccini, a huge bump run, in a blue tuxedo covered with banannas. Fortunately he was very good, only touching down on about one mogul out of three.
ReplyDelete