THE EXHAUSTION OF A
METAPHOR
Skinheads in the Northwest, migrants
pouring into California, 1,000 American factories just over the
border in Mexico, coffee vendors in Seattle: Are these images of
the Western frontier? Journalist Richard Rodriguez says they are,
and they’re replacing the old idea of a land without limits. He
will consider this transformation in a talk Oct. 26 titled Gone
West: The Exhaustion of an American Metaphor, the annual
distinguished lecture of the Center of the American West. The
center also highlights Rodriguez in its new 16-page newsletter,
Western Voices. In the first issue, writers reflect on everything
from erosion of Utah wilderness to the little-known story of the
African American, Charlotte Brown. She won a lawsuit against a San
Francisco streetcar company’s whites-only policy in 1863 – almost
100 years before Rosa Parks’ famous act of defiance. For more
information about the upcoming lecture at the Denver Public
Library, or for a copy of Western Voices, contact the Center of the
American West, University of Colorado, Campus Box 234, Boulder, CO
80309
(303/492-4879).
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline The exhaustion of a metaphor.
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