Crossroads: When the future is uncertain, there’s nothing more reassuring than the past.

by John Van Dyke

I am continuing to tell the stories of my journey around the country, having conversations. Our country is at a crossroad, making decisions, which direction we will be taking. I talk about us and our places. Who we are.

Unless you are living under a rock, the constant distraction of disruptive political theatrics starts taking its toll, as maybe it was intended. It becomes a background noise that is always there. I think it was creeping into us, and we were not aware of it. It was easy for people, of both political parties, when I was talking with them to say they felt we were too divided as a country. The things that were implied, but not said maybe. I think a cloud was starting to be cast over us. I realized that I needed to ask a little more when I talked with people, go a little deeper, but not get into the weeds.

‘You raise up your head and you ask, “Is this where it is?”

And somebody points to you and says, “It’s his”

And you say, “What’s mine?” and somebody else says, “Well, what is?”

And you say, “Oh my God, am I here all alone?”

But something is happening and you don’t know what it is’

- Bob Dylan, Ballad of a Thin Man

There is a lot to be said for hanging out at a favorite pub, bar, coffee place. For me, it is part social, maybe mostly social. We are social creatures in spite of ourselves. The TV program Cheers was a success because most folks related to it on some level. While I was figuring out my next road trip, I used some local opportunities for conversations. I was having a glass of wine at a favorite wine bar, late one afternoon. A couple came in and sat at the bar next to me. I think it was a date or something, anyway sitting next to me was a striking lady with a cowboy hat, and she was wound up, celebrating something. I asked what the occasion was. A new job, and, in a part of the tech world that was hot. We started talking about tech, which I love, and hate. I told her about my interest in tech, dating back to the beginning, or about 1990 for me. Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning was what we were talking about, and in 2018, that was a fresh topic. She wanted to introduce me to someone, for a tour of some cutting edge stuff. I said that would be amazing, and would love to. I did tell her about what I was doing, and my travels talking to people. We exchanged info, and her and her friend rode off into the sunset. I contacted her.

Laura was taking a risk talking to me, being recorded on camera, knowing that the whole world might see and hear what she had to say. I had learned, I guess, a little to my surprise, that people who worked in the “white collar” world, male or female were reluctant to talk, for fear of recrimination, or being identified as having an opinion that might be different from their tribe, work, social, or whatever. Then of course, “what’s in it for me.” The beginning, it was starting. The culture wars.

“Now is a time to take a position and say what you believe to be true. It does put you at risk.” Laura is one of those people you meet that makes an impact on you. When we met, no cowboy hat, her hair was pulled back in a stylish wrap, she wore a black turtle neck, slacks and a neat jacket. She was the definition of professional, yet she has a deeply human side. She also can explain complex subjects in a very understandable and relatable way. I loved how she simply explained the business model of tech. First, we gave permission, we checked OK. Second, they collect all our information. Third, they feed us everything we want to hear, see, and deem important to us. Forth, they use our preference data, to stir us, engage us, agitate us, and retain our attention. Engagement and retention, equals advertising dollars. Billions of dollars. Turns out, all that stuff wasn’t free.

We talked about the “unintended consequences” of how tech controls our lives today. She said, it’s just business, and we are the product. We all have a smart phone that provides information about us, and that information is used to feed us stuff based on our preferences, all of them

I asked Laura about being a woman in a “Bro Culture.” It’s difficult, and she said there are some stories, she preferred not to talk about. She grew up with tech. As a little kid, her father had one of the first computers, and a modem that sounded like Gerbils screeching. She learned early code and how to browse the internet, before browsers. That makes her old in the tech world. We talked about our divisiveness, fear of becoming replaced, and beliefs and ideas of the world around us. And, having the hard conversations that seem to be missing today.

Laura’s parents are Evangelical Christians living on the upper Michigan peninsula. And they have very different ideas about a lot of things. They think the “Blue bubble” where she lives, is on the gates of hell. Laura said she leans toward Buddhism in her beliefs. When she goes home for visits, the conversations are sometimes intense, but they do have them. I realized, while we were talking, that Laura could explain, to a lot of people, how tech has changed and impacted our lives. We do not fully understand tech, or think deeply about it, and I was beginning to see what it was doing to us. I told her she could give one of todays TED talks.

“Where ignorance is our master, there is no possibility of real peace.”

- Dalai Lama

Traveling across Montana, the town of Butte was high on my list of places to stop. Family ties, and curiosity about this place, what is it like, to see it, as a full grown adult, in 2019, 65 years later. I drove through the strip mall part, with the usual motor inn hotels and food places, after pulling off the highway. The road led up a hill, to the city center. The old Butte, with the brick buildings that remained. Some had been torn down, or fallen down, or destroyed by fire. There was a sense of old, with a little bit of new. I needed a place to stay and pulled over so I could google. There was one place to stay, a recently created boutique hotel in an old three story bank building. As I would find out, there where a lot of old bank buildings in this town, that once had a population approaching 100,000. I found the hotel, on what was the main street. Fortunately they had one room that was available. The guy at the desk asked me if I was claustrophobic. The room was the old vault, it still had a vault door. I said it would work, but didn’t spend much time in the room.

It was mid afternoon and I was walking around with my cameras. Video, and still. I wanted to capture some images with the nice afternoon light. There were a few clouds in an otherwise very blue sky. I could feel a little of the history, buildings talk, when you look closely. I was also scouting out a place to have dinner. There was an Irish pub place that looked promising. It was on the same street as another establishment that was pretty rough and tumble. I looked inside and it still had safety boxes that miners could rent, circa 1920’s. It was once a payday loan place, a diner, a saloon, and had rooms by the hour upstairs. Butte Montana is a mining town and was the Copper capital of the world once. They called it the richest hill on earth.

I walked in the Irish pub, it was a long narrow room, with a bar along one side, with a bunch of stools. The other side had booth style tables. I opted for the bar, and pulled up a stool. The menu board above the bar advertised a lamb chop special. I ordered that, and a pint of beer. A young lady named Shayna served me. I immediately liked her. She was wearing all black, as was the fellow that was working with her. Her hair was a close bob cut, she had large eyes, that could tell stories. I knew she was not white, but couldn’t quite tell what. For sure she was not Irish. I asked her about Butte, and this place. She told me the Irish are big here, and that St. Paddies Day involves the whole town. This place is a melting pot from the heyday of miners immigrating to work. I told Shayna why I was there, and what I was doing. She got it, and was eager to talk with me. We set a time for the following morning.

Who we are in our childhood isn’t that far from who we are now.

“My grandmother tells me that I am a little old lady.” Shayna seemed wise for her years. She was 24 at the time we talked. She was raised by her grandparents, something I found a lot of, traveling around the country. Her father is in prison, her mother on drugs. Yet, Shayna graduated from High School with a 4.0 grade point, an honors student. She is very proud of that. Life was not easy. Her father took her on his drug runs when she was a little girl. He was a dealer. He is Mexican, and her mother part Native American. Butte is a place where everyone knows everyone, and there is a lot of ethnic diversity. As we spoke, it was clear that Shayna was very aware of what is going on today, and was one of those “woke” young people. She did say that she was afraid for our future, and wished she could be as naive as her grandparents. But, her grandfathers politics makes her crazy, she said he is living in the past, somewhere around the time of Vietnam, when he was a soldier. While she thinks we are in trouble as a country, she is optimistic. “It’s the only choice we have.” I found myself encouraged talking with Shayna, as I would with other young people I had conversations with. It may be cliche, but they are our future.

I was, like a lot of people, ignorant about drugs, what was really happening in America. Being fed information that maybe was washed by those who can control information. The stereotypical suspect. Narco, border, Mexican, cartel, black, gangs, criminal elements. It seemed to me it was always cast as a racial problem. TV drama programs helped shape our ideas. The wildly popular “Breaking Bad” series shed a light on more inclusive, newer ideas, about who was involved in drugs. Yet, I had never heard much about “Opioids.” In 2016 I read a book that opened my eyes about Americas Opiate Epidemic. As I traveled around the country, I would realize how many people have been impacted by Opioids, and how they can destroy a complete town. I visited one of those towns.

I will be publishing more of my conversations and travels in future issues. Thanks for reading or listening.

We are all part of the American Mosaic.

John Van Dyke