The Disappearing Place
by Andrew Stuart
A couple of years ago, I was having an
early morning phone conversation with a good
friend in Marfa. I was angst-ridden: it had
been a long night, of questionable choices.
“You’ll see!” I said. “One of these days,
I’m going to just – disappear.”
“Where are you going to go?” she asked.
“To the... to the... disappearing place,”
I said.
I
t is a pleasure to write to you as the
editor of the Hudspeth County Herald
and Dell Valley Review, officing in Dell
City. (Officially, for a three-month trial
period, I am the assistant editor,
though, as far as I can tell, even at pres-
ent, I enjoy all the privileges and – this
seems clear – the responsibilities of edi-
torship.)
The editor of the Cenizo Journal
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suggested it might be interesting to hear
what it was like to edit the weekly paper
in the least populated county in Texas.
Hudspeth County is not that – Loving
County, with a population of 67
according to the 2000 census, takes that
cake easily – but it is certainly among
the most sparsely populated. Hudspeth
County is the third largest in Texas –
only a few hundred square miles small-
er than number two, Pecos – and in
2000, the census recorded 3,344 resi-
dents, which means there are about 1.4
square-miles of land for each person.
After announcing my arrival in the
paper, I received a very friendly wel-
come – hand- and typewritten letters
arriving in the mail, phone calls, kind e-
mails and personal visits wishing me
the best.
Things got lively pretty quickly.
On my fifth paper, I included, on the
front page, news of two indictments:
one of a former elected official accused
of thieving public funds; the other, of
some local boys accused in the (non-
fatal) shooting and beating of two sea-
sonal workers.
This decision was not born of a zeal
for muckraking or trouble-causing;
from what I’d informally learned about
journalism, the items just seemed like
news. But some readers – accustomed
to the publication of happy news only –
were rattled.
At the post office the following
Monday, I got a thumbs-up from the
postmaster and from a gentleman who
has lived in the Valley, as it’s called, for
some 50 years. This was heartening –
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as it balanced less appreciative commu-
nications. Responses, mostly positive,
continue to come in.
Unexpectedly, this forced me to
enter the cafe (there are two restaurants
in Dell City, both pretty good) with a
certain swagger. I can’t back down. “I’d
rather be tolerated than universally
loved” or some such thing, wrote
Edward Abbey. I like to be liked, but it
seems inevitable that at some point I’m
just going to be put up with by most
people. I suppose it might as well start
sooner rather than later.
I read recently in the Big Bend
Sentinel, which arrives at the office each
week, comments of Larry McMurtry’s
about small towns – that most are
“intolerant, prejudiced, narrow.”
Which is certainly true, of most.
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