Recently, prompted by curiosity, I joined Facebook. So far I've done nothing more to my page than post a couple of short notes and check from time to time to see what Facebook friends (mostly people met through my children) are doing.
Quirkiest thing about Facebook is a box at the top of the page that says, "What are you doing right now?" You can post an update, an observation, a reminder, a reaction, long or short.
"Throwing her hands up in the air as if she doesn't care," is the latest note from one friend, the mother of two lively, intelligent children under 5. Perfectly understandable.
What
I'm doing right now is trying to work out why this week's constant iteration of "Wall Street vs. Main Street" irritates me so much, especially when it comes from John McCain.
Part of it is McCain's phony folksiness, his shameless pandering to any group that will help him get elected.
Only a person completely out of touch with contemporary America actually believes "Main Street" still exists, outside of Disneyland.
Let me expand. Once, every town, no matter how small or remote, had a business center - a downtown. Washtucna had a mercantile, a grain elevator, a post office and a drugstore. Wilson Creek had a square-built bank, and several stores. (Washtucna is on the way to Benge and Endicott. Wilson Creek is halfway between Stratford and Marlin. You need a good map.)
Moscow, Idaho, where I grew up, had a flourishing business district, as it was central shopping for the region's prosperous farms and smaller communities. Main Street offered three department stores, two drugstores, a men's store, a women's store, a sporting goods store, two flower shops, two or three cafes, a Chinese restaurant, a book and paper goods store, a furniture store, the state liquor store, a travel agency and at least two real estate offices. You could buy meat, office supplies, shoes, cosmetics, fabric and patterns, mail a letter, pay the electric bill - all within a few blocks.
Little towns lost their business districts to the automobile and population shifts. Bigger places, like Moscow, fell victim to the mall, which sucked major stores away from town centers.
Because it is a university town, Moscow still has a Main Street, of sorts. The largest department store long ago turned into a very dubious club, the book and paper goods store is now the University art gallery, the men's store is a coffee house, as is one of the former flower shops. There is a good book store, and a cafe I remember from high school days is still doing business in its familiar location. The Chinese restaurant never moved or remodeled - the owners have just updated the kitchen equipment and put fresh varnish on the vintage wooden booths and paneling. (The food is good, too.)
It's not bad - just different, and a bit frustrating if you want more than ephemeral fashion, a meal or a cup of coffee. It's also livelier, on most days, than either of the two malls that mushroomed out of former wheat fields sometime in the late 60's. Siphoning business from both malls is Wal-Mart, still further out of town - another familiar story.
So - Main Street, as the mythmakers imagine it, is gone. As a reaction to malls, old downtowns have developed new ways to attract visitors, and one very healthy development is the weekly farmers/crafts market. Old hotels become residences, and small businesses hang on. The tiny towns will never come back, but mid-size places - especially small university towns - remain attractive.
But I still want Republican politicians to stop going on about "Main Street" (unless they are prepared to spend money for infrastructure and education improvement.)
So far, that only happens at Disneyland.
