But being here (and though
my home site is 25 miles from
Dell City), I’m reminded that
they do have things to recom-
mend them, these com-
munities with fewer peo-
ple. The fact that they
have fewer people, for
example. (Obviously, they
also provide an alternative
to the saturation of con-
sumerism, the abomina-
tions of strip malls, etc.
and are good places if you
find the non-human
world as interesting as the
human one. And you
develop cordial relation-
ships with people you
would likely only have
glancing encounters with
in a city.)
In addition, it’s possi-
ble that things will be pre-
served, albeit in states of
decay, which are pushed
out in cities – things which
pass in this country for
old. (In fact, Dell City
itself is not an old town, even
by West Texas standards. It
grew up as a farming commu-
nity in the late 40s. But some
of the founding generation,
“the pioneers,” are still alive,
and their kids run the town’s
few businesses. A certain con-
tinuity.)
So it’s interesting to
encounter some of these
things in Dell City and the
other nearby pockets of
human beings.
It’s fun to run the newspa-
per – I’m the only employee; it
takes two to four days of my
week – and to learn the land-
scape of the county. Many of
the features are similar to
those I encountered in other
West Texas communities,
transposed, with variations.
There’s the smart, no-non-
sense county judge; she rides
herd on the county. There’s
the ambiguous languor of a
West Texas sheriff ’s office (tor-
porous, but only to a point –
like a sunbathing rattlesnake).
There’s the beneficent, long-
suffering face of the school
principal’s secretary, who is the
nerve center of the institution.
There are the dynamics of
each of the small towns, the
allegiances, the gripes and
grudges – some fresh, some
forms of which are more mys-
terious to me. The Valley and
the country itself. Near at
hand, a cluster of igneous
peaks and mesas known
as
the
Cornudas
Mountains. And, always
dominating the view, at
home or in town, the
Guadalupes (rising 5,000
feet above the desert and
topped by a sheer, 1,500-
foot wall of carbonate –
the crushed and compact-
ed remains of ancient sea
life).
There is also the more
extreme human empti-
ness, the solitude. The
real wilderness.
Not long ago, a man
was
arrested
near
Carlsbad, for allegedly
killing a Fort Stockton
rancher 20 years ago. The
accused had spent part of
the interim in Dell City
ANDREW STUART (he left a few years back).
A Dell Valley native and I
generational. There are the
got to talking about it.
relationships of the towns to
“Dell City is a good place to
one another, both cooperative
go if you’re trying to hide out,
and contentious.
to sort of disappear,” he said.
Feeling this out, making
I’m happy to report that,
contacts and putting out the
even with the instant notoriety
paper on the weekly rhythm is
imparted by a small town, I
pleasant.
am beginning to disappear.
It is also probably a healthy
bulwark, something familiar to
lean on as I encounter things
that are somewhat less famil-
iar. Struggling with words,
with projects that don’t have
such a clear deadline, and the
Riata
Inn
Old Schoolhouse
Bed & Breakfast
Mountain views
just outside Marfa
Hwy 90 East • Marfa
Swimming pool
Microwaves/Fridges
Wireless internet
401 N. Front Street
Fort Davis • TX
432-426-2050
schoolhousebnb.com
Where you can
sleep in class!
432.729.3800
Jett’s Grill
at the historic Hotel Paisano
serving dinner 5 to 9 p.m.
seven days a week
207 N Highland Ave • Marfa
432.729.3838
J. Shaw Skinner, CPA
610 E Holland Avenue
Alpine, TX 79830
Phone (432) 837-5861
Fax (432) 837-5516
AYN FOUNDATION
(DAS MAXIMUM)
Historic Guesthouses
Nightly, weekly & monthly rentals
New Wine Bar Open Daily
ANDY WARHOL
“The Last Supper”
109 W San Antonio Street • Marfa
432-729-4599
www.themarfaquarters.com
thequarters@sbcglobal.net
MARIA ZERRES
“September Eleven”
Brite Building 107-109 N Highland, Marfa
Open weekends noon to 5 p.m.
Please call 432.729.3315 for more information.
Open by appointment.
Cenizo
Third Quarter 2009
21