One of the oldest forms of public news dissemination is the well. In the olden days, people had to go to the well at least daily or several times a day. The users of the well, mostly women, would then inform each other of happenings in their family, or rumors they had heard. This is not even just a human phenomenon. Many social interactions in animal groups also occur at the local pond, lake, whatever.
Wildebeast 1: Mooo, you know Betty is about to drop that calf any day now.
Wildebeast 2: Mooo, I know what you mean…. it’ll be nice to hear the pitter-patter of little hooves around here again.
In the Olympian story “Artesian Well Will Stay Open”, there is a quote of note along these lines:
Councilwoman Joan Machlis, who worked to get the agreement signed, said community advocacy was important.
“It is a phenomenal gathering space,” she said.
to which there was a comment:
glenn wrote on 02/25/2009 07:55:27 AM:
“It is a phenomenal gathering space”. What? It’s a damn parking lot. Just this morning I was trying to figure out what I would do with my day and lo and behold I decided to go and stand in the parking lot. Maybe I’ll bring a book.
While I agree with glenn that the physical facility is not very sightly, it’s still a place of note for Olympia.
A recent count shows that about 250 persons a day use the well. Most don’t stick around for conversation, so it’s not much the gathering place for communication sake.
However, in my capacity as a member of the group, H2Oly, the new well advocacy group, I do hear a lot about the well these days. It still is a passionate issue for many people and they will tell you about how they or their household or Aunt Minnie goes there for drinking water.
I’m glad there is a plan to keep the well going. I hope we get a facility nicer than the one we have someday.
It’s worth talking about.
— end scribble —
