Word Count: 719

Zen, and the Art of

Rock Arrangement

David G. Swanson

Nobody in this valley will disagree with me when I say this place has a lot of rocks. Big rocks, little rocks, heavy rocks, multi-colored rocks, rocks with all sorts of minerals buried deep inside them and their extraction having become the driving force of our mining history and heritage, rocks, rocks, and more rocks. Did I mention that this place has a lot of rocks?

Looking at things from a moronic perspective, I’m guessing that might be a big reason why this area is commonly referred to as the southern part of the“Rocky Mountains.” I could be wrong, but I don’t think I am.

If you disagree with me (and no one actually does…), all a person needs to do is dig a hole around here. Once you get about 6” below the surface, you’re guaranteed to hit rocks of one sort or another (top soil? What’s that?). Rocks are everywhere, so you might as well become accustom to working with them, buddy.

Now in my job as one of the Parks-n-Recreation Department guys for the Town of Silverton, I’m forced to do all sorts of different things with this material called, rocks. One of them happened a month and a half ago when most of the snow finally melted, and my boss said we should probably start lining the paths in Memorial Park with rocks. What a novel concept? Rocks are cheap, really abundant which makes them a readily available resource to accumulate, and easy to collect. Except of course for the big ones which require Olympic caliber weight-lifter status. You can arrange them in all sorts of interesting, unique, and creative ways.

Back in mid-May, I started doing this rock lining thing, and at this point in early summer most days don’t feel complete unless I squeeze an hour or so outside of my other Parks-n-Rec. tasks collecting rocks and lining the paths in Memorial Park with them. Various people come walking through the park and look at me like I’m about to climb Mount Everest with a pair of rusted roller skates strapped to my feet. How is he doing this, why is he doing this, what sort of mind altering drugs is he ingesting that allows him to do this? At this point I’m here to tell our fans out there that I actually enjoy doing this, and it’s always drug-free by the way.

I’m reminded of the 4th of July parade rock-themed float my sisters put together all those years ago. People loved the end product too, and my siblings even put together T-shirts for float participants that included a rather apropos. statement on the back, “Wanna buy a Rock?” What a great memory to hold onto and tell your grand-children about years from now. Oh yeah, I doubt that scenario will play itself out in my case.

Then of course I could do the Charlie Chaplin thing and have 10 children later in life with the youngest being born when I’m 53 years young (I’m 10 years beyond that already…). Plus, the scenario of having a heart attack while you’re playing with the kids in your backyard doesn’t sound too appealing. Therefore, the later-in-life marriage thing probably won’t happen.

Rock arranging in Memorial Park is an ongoing project for me, so it probably won’t even come close to being finished till sometime in late July or early August. Little by little as each week passes it’s happening though, and both my colleague, and the Parks Director keep telling me it makes the park look so cool. Good for stroking my “ego” among other things.

Japanese culture got it right when they came up with the whole concept of everybody having a “zen” rock garden. This is extremely good for calming your mind and an amazing exercise that I can’t say enough good things about.

Along those lines, next time you’re wandering through Memorial Park and see me lining trails with rocks, you’re quite welcome to join in. Arranging them along the paths happens to be a soothing exercise for all participants in a “zen” sort of way. Just make sure to stand back when I’m letting my twisted mind go crazy with the way I’m arranging the rocks.

David G. Swanson is a rock collector living in Silverton…