[pct-l] Just an observation...but

[hikergrrl@cybergrrl.com]

I thought that the Coyote's reply to Jim <airbrne27@jps.net> was funny, in a biting sarcastic sorta way.

Nobody likes being talked down to or pitied, and it wasn't that long ago in American culture that accepting charity was seen by the recipients as demeaning. The way Jim phrased his post sorta struck me as saying "how can we help these unfortunates enjoy the same things as we do, since they don't seem capable of doing it themselves." A contrary reaction by one of the people being talked down to is not surprising.

Here is another take on why there may be fewer minorities on the PCT. I hypothesize that most "minority" families have come from developing countries within the last generation or so. They don't have a long history of living in urban areas. (I am going somewhere with this -grin-)

Last year during summer vacation I went hiking in Greece. There is a well maintained set of huts and trails in the north  - all maintained by the Germans and Austrians (before the war in Yugoslavia, Greece was a not-to-long drive from Germany.)

In a guidebook, the author was lamenting that the Greeks didn't enjoy hiking and camping in these lovely mountains, like the Germans did. He attributed this to the Greek agrarian lifestyle. They spent so much time outside walking already, that they had little interest in doing it for recreation. He seemed to think that recreational hiking was a reaction to city living, and it took a long period of urbanization before people desired a "return to nature." To support his point, he described the "recent" (the book was pretty old)  creation of  hiking clubs in the universities in fairly recently (compared to Germany) urbanized cities of Athens and Theselloniki. (I know Athens has been civilized for a long time, I am referring to post-industrial urbanization which hadn't really reached Greece till after the revolution.)

Yes, I am an anthropology major (he he he he). 

The Hiker Girl
In the city that has two names, twice.
PCT Y2K


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