Well, I tried and tried, but that’s pretty much the best title I could come up for this one. Apologies to writers everywhere.

Anyhow, as Tracy and I were traipsing across the site of the old Mexican Original plant – yes, there is open access – getting the last of the footage for my documentary about my years at M.O. (as many of us referred it) I noted with grim joy that the only structure still standing was one of the corn towers it was my responsibility to climb to the top of several times a week during the last few years of my employment.

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With the approaching storm coming in, accompanied by winds and lightning, I captured some really nice images of what looked like the aftermath of a nuclear war.

We also noticed something else. Or rather Tracy did, and when she did, it also made for some rather nice video footage.

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Insulation just laying around. Quite a bit of it, actually.

A little piece here, a little piece there.

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A chunk here, a chunk there.

A circuit board.

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On July 3, the Northwest Arkansas Times reported that nothing remained of Mexican Original but the foundation and the concrete slab.

Well, that and the insulation, much of which was put in over 20 years ago – maybe even 30 years ago. I began working there in 1980 (like many, I figured I’d be there for a few months at most) and left in 1993. Whatever insulation was there wasn’t ripped out wholesale and replaced in the years I worked there.

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You’d think somebody could at least have gone through the site with a broom and swept up the damn stuff before it . . .

. . . escaped the premises and ended up on the lawn of the church across the street.

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We only happened to notice the insulation on the grounds of the church because the sky had opened up, and we were making for the car, which we had parked in the church parking lot.

But you sort of have to ask yourself: how much of this healthy insulation has escaped the grounds of Mexican Original, and where else has it ended up? Have any animals eaten it? Have any kids played around it? Or with it?

Any lawn mowers ground it up and spread it around?

When I worked there, we were always keenly aware that people lived very close to the plant. I’m not sure that the folks who left all this crap laying around had that in mind when they considered their work to be done after pulling the building down.

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But as I say, it looks great on video.

******
Quote of the Day

Hoary idea, in any case, expecting a woman to surrender her name to her husband’s in exchange for his. Why? Would any man submerge his identity and heritage to the woman he wed? – Marya Mannes, “Out of My Time”

rsdrake@cox.net

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