I believe it was former Alaska State Governor Sarah Palin who popularized the “a bridge to nowhere” expression. In my mind’s eye, the only bridge to nowhere is the one affixed to the center of my face. It terminates next to open space, otherwise known as the “end-of-nose/open-space interface.”
It’s funny how people can see the same thing differently. It’s all in the translation; it’s all in the translation.
These days I find that people often say things without giving much or any thought to the meaning of what was spoken. It seems like the problem is pervasive.
So, during the candidacy for Fresno Mayor (in the term just prior), in a pre-election debate, Mayoral candidates Lee Brand and Henry Perea squared off. The moderator had posed a question to both, and oddly enough that had to either do with high-speed rail or Amtrak. Brand went first. As soon as I heard the response, I was most taken aback, Brand’s reply being: “Amtrak is a train to nowhere.”
Does he not know what he just said?! Does he not understand the gravity of what he is saying?!
I’m pretty sure he did. This, as far as I’m concerned was, at the time, a party talking point.
Even so, my subsequent thoughts turned to the fact that Fresno is served by Amtrak. (There is more I have to say on this below).
So, what, he’s calling Fresno ‘nowheresville’?! I didn’t get it then and I don’t get it now. Not just that, but by extension, this must also be saying that the more than 500 stations nationwide, whether rural- or metropolitan-based, regardless, these too are ‘nowhere’ places?! Um, no.
Well, in the end, it was Brand who reigned victorious. City residents must have liked what they heard and what he had to offer, apparently.
To be fair and to his credit, during his tenure, Brand became a supporter and advocate for high-speed rail and, I would assume, for Amtrak as well.
There, put that in your pipe and smoke it!
When the Fresno former Santa Fe train depot was formally dedicated (some might have you believe the edifice was rededicated) ca. 2004 - the building had just undergone a major renovation) - then City Mayor and actor and former football player Alan Autry presided over the event and during his speech, he referenced the train station in comparison (I would guess) to the facade of the thoroughly modem-looking Fresno City Hall located to the station’s north across Tulare Street as “a little bit country, a little bit rock-n-roll.” The then mayor’s exact words. You could tell from the on-hand crowd’s reaction, that that observation was most fitting. Us onlookers, we all just busted up.
The lighter side
I was at a miniature golf complex once and while on the course, the group ahead consisted exclusively of kids.
At any rate, one in group aced one of the holes, to which the expert or lucky miniature-golfer exclaimed: “I got a hole-in-one!”
Meanwhile, of the fivesome, a younger player’s very serious reaction: “You mean you got a zero?!”
Kids: Don’t they say the darnedest things! Don’t they, though?
