Monday, April 10, 2006

Hiding Out

Someone recently asked me what the title of my blog meant. Picking a name for one's blog is serious business, you want it to be unique and clever, though it should mean something to you as well. I came up with the name "The Last Hideout" from two sources; a song and a book.

It is a loose reference to a line in the Uncle Tupelo song, "Sauget Wind":

I don't know what I'm breathing for
'Cause the air around here ain't so good anymore
The weatherman says "fair"
But he looks like a lie
Nothing's free in this country
And there's no place to hide....no more

I like the idea of having a place to escape to if need be, to get away from all the crazy shit that is going on in the world, a modern day hideout. Sadly though, those places are getting harder to find, but I still know a few. "The Last Hideout" is the title of chapter in one of my favorite books; The Good Rain, by Timothy Egan. In this chapter Egan writes about the North Cascades of Washington State, a place where I spent much time in my early 20's. Nearly twice the size of Yellowstone National Park, the North Cascades contains Glacier Peak and the Pasayten ("Pay Satan") Wilderness Areas. It's a roadless land of clean air, alpine meadows, and sawtooth mountain skylines. In college I used to escape to the North Cascades whenever I could. Outside of Alaska, I can't think of a better place to get lost.

I also get some shit from people when I tell them the web address to my blog. "What the hell is a nooksack?" is the response I get from most people. The best one I heard was someone thought it was a reference to an Eskimo's scrotum. You are one sick fuck if you think I am going to name my blog after someone's ball sack. No offense to any Inuit readers out there, you've got bigger balls than I will ever have. The name comes from the Nooksack River in Western Washington, another place where I spent much time when I lived out west. It's headwaters are fed by the snow from Mount Baker and Mount Shuksan, it is one of the most beautiful rivers in the world and it holds a lot of memories for me, so don't go pissing in it.

That's it.

1 comment:

Max and Me said...

hello there! i happened upon your blog after much searching and i must say...it is a welcome refuge. what a delight to find a blog which is first of all...not spam and is also interesting and well written! bravo to you! i look forward to reading more of you in the future!