Mount Money

The editor has confirmed that this will run in the March 4 edition of the Mountain Mail.

To the editor of the Mountain Mail,

As a blacklisted former ski patroller (looking at you, Mt. Cooper) who later covered the river raft guide wage controversy from the perspective of local guides (costing the former and possibly current publisher of this paper a bit in the way of ad revenues—sorry not sorry) as a journalist for the Chaffee County Times before being lowkey run out of town, I salute the community members and social critics who installed art on Tenderfoot Mountain in late February.

Photo by Cailey McDermott for the Mountain Mail

Mayor Shore wrung his hands in the fashion of a man whose salary prevents his understanding of the problem in his face. But let's not spend too much energy attempting to cast shame on the shameless.

Call it vandalism or call it what you will. The writing's on the mountain and the power is at its base. If we can climb up there and put our mark on the community's most visible landmark against the wishes of the most influential and privileged, what else can we accomplish?

Despite having fled back to Michigan seeking cheaper rents and family support, we have found both to be lacking. Although the state of Colorado and the towns within it remain emblematic of our nation's housing crisis, it is in fact not measurably better here, or anywhere. It is merely adjusted to the local market environment and attuned so as to subject myself and every other honest, civic-minded person to unbalanced equations in the calculus of survival.

Solidarity with Salida's working class. An injury to one is an injury to all.

Yours in struggle,

-[WobblyReporter]