The exciting West of the Imagination, and the comforting Real West


Since I love living in the West, make no mistake, I love the West of the Imagination. It's thrilling, but I also like the Real West, which isn't quite so exciting, but I find very comforting. Some people, I know, consider it dull and boring, and maybe it is. So if you can't get all excited about the Real West, I understand, I'll let it go.

Of course, in the West of the Imagination, everything is larger than life, including the Western heros, who have to be at least seven feet tall. The women are incredibly beautiful, with eyes that flash, and bosoms that heave, and even the dogs are so wonderful that there's no chance that any kid would fall down a well without being rescued immediately. And I love the West of the Imagination! I can't tell you how many times I've seen "Shane", and I've seen enough Sunday Matinee movies to know that the U.S. Cavalry always arrives right in the nick of time.

But for me, I also find comfort in the Real West. I enjoy learning about the day-to-day lives of people who lived here in Arizona years ago. And when I'm in the mood for that, I don't want anything to be fictionalized, I don't want the timeframe to be "back in the days of yore", I want to know exactly where, and when. I actually spend most of my time in the Real West, and in addition to being comforting, I gotta admit that sometimes it's just dull. Sometimes just painfully dull, so I try to keep the information that I share at least short, like this blog post.

An example that I could give you is the dullest book I've ever read, about the history of Valley National Bank of Arizona. Yes, it goes back over 100 years, but it's just the story of a bank. A little bit goes a long way for me when you talk about a subject as dry as banking. I suppose accountants would be thrilled by it, but I'm no accountant. Let's see, papers are drawn up, dotted lines are signed on, loans are given, mergers happen, etc., etc. You know, banking. Maybe you don't know - I sure don't! I worked for Valley Bank for years, but only as a graphic designer, I didn't have anything to do with the day-to-day banking. I met a lot of these people, who were good, solid citizens, the kind of people you want running a bank. Not exciting!

So, as I've learned different things about the True West, I've held back. If someone asks me a rhetorical question, starting with "Can you tell me...." I check myself. Yes, I can tell you about that, but the reality of it will be much more boring than you probably want to hear. I make a mental note to write something in this blog, and try to keep it fairly light, and entertaining, at least a bit. Thrilling? No, not so much. For that I refer you to the great Western writers, my favorite being Zane Grey.

I'm no Zane Grey, I just like writing about ordinary stuff, and somehow that seems to make me more comfortable living in the West. I like it here, even if it's not always thrilling.

Image at the top of this post: Promoting Nash automobiles in 1941 at Miller Brothers Motors, 542-548 W. Washington, Phoenix, Arizona. From the McCulloch Brothers Photography Collection at ASU.
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