Wide, wide river

PRINCETON D, (2006) 10" x 10"

Fans of the long-lost sixties band The Fugs* will recall the song of todays posts title.  Scatological in the truest sense of the word, the song aptly describes Sonoma County's Russian River.  Dumping ground for the wine country's agricultural runoff, wastewater and treated sewage from cities and towns upstream, the river remains a tourist and recreational mecca for many Bay Areans.  These people, whether oblivious or unconcerned, continue to canoe, kayak and, heaven help them, swim in the rivers dubious waters.

Friends who visit us here are often surprised when I reveal the content of the Russian's flow, and why I refuse to drop any body parts in or around it.  It is especially tragic, given the beauty  of the river as it runs along River Road and highway 116 to the sea.  But the river also has the misfortune of being the easiest way for people to get rid of things.  In large quantities.  In the middle of the night.  And broad daylight.   Trash, wood, chemicals, sewage, only the last two remain officially sanctioned "products" of municipalities unwilling to bear the cost of responsibilities to their downstream neighbors, let alone the ocean, nature and the world.  

The results of too much growth and not enough planning is the default history of America in general, California in particular, and Sonoma County in spades.  The solutions are always "cost prohibitive" if you listen to the various councils, commissions, and assemblies.  So, here we are.  A river you shouldn't swim in is still hyped as a great river to swim in.  When some poor bastard, knee deep in the stuff, shrugs "Hey, it's the river!" when told about its toxic levels of e.coli, you realize The Fugs* had no idea.

* Ed Sanders, one of the founding members, was the publisher of "Fuck You: A Magazine of the Arts", which to my mind, may be the greatest magazine title ever.