The Night Sky

August 18, 2007

We took time out from being dazzled by the Mammoth night sky to be equally dazzled by David Owen's superb piece in the Aug. 20 New Yorker, dealing with ... the night sky. "To see skies truly comparable to those which Galileo knew, you would have to travel to such places as the Australian outback and the mountains of Peru." We'd argue that the Eastern Sierra ranks right up there, which is why the Night Sky ordinance that the town has put in place is so critical. Here's Owen again: "Excessive, poorly designed outdoor lighting wastes electricity, imperils human health and safety, disturbs natural habitats and, increasingly, deprives many of us with a direct relationship with the nighttime sky, which throughout human history has been a powerful source of reflection, inspiration, discovery and plain old jaw-dropping wonder." Well, duh!

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Done For

August 4, 2007

It looks like we're done for. The New York Times on Friday, Aug. 3, splashed Mammoth on the front page of its travel section under the headline "An Old Ski Town Faces The March of the Wine Bar," and of course the implications are enormous. First of all, who knew that wine bars could march? That aside, is everyone around here used to flat vowels and Yankees caps? Contemporary art? Theater every night except Mondays? We could inundated by vacationing playwrights looking for Malaysian cuisine. Or worse. Hedge fund managers looking to offer us endless tips on the chairlifts.

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