I'm getting around to reading "New West Reader," which Jim Larson reviewed in the Outpost Christmas book issue.
I haven't read enough to draw any conclusions, but I was struck by a sentence in the introduction by Philip Connors, a University of Montana graduate who edited the volume. Writing about conflicts between ranchers and environmentalists, he says, "There remain bars where to wear a pair of sandals is to invite a beating."
He's writing specifically of the Gila Wilderness, but he obviously envisions the entire American West between California and the Rocky Mountains. And I'm skeptical about his assertion. But I don't believe that I have worn a pair of sandals since I was 3 years old, so I'm obviously not in the best position to know.
So I put it to any sandal-wearing, beer-swilling readers out there: Have you ever been beaten, or credibly threatened with a beating, in any bar in the West?
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4 comments:
I was once a Berkenstock wearing bar fly that never hesitated to let any "sociography" get in the way of me and my libations in any western setting. Although I have never been beaten in a bar brawl, I have been credibly threatened. That, however, was never a function of my sandals but more a result of my warm and charming personality when well basted with cheap scotch.
25 years ago before Bozeman was ruined, wearing a rugby shirt or anything made by Patagonia wasn't a real good idea in the Crystal Bar on Main Street.
In the late 70's in Great Falls people went into the J Bar T to engage in recreational combat, but I don't think that footwear brought trouble. It was like "Fight Club."
Dont forget the Beacon Club...
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