The Zip Feed Mill fiasco
diana jenner
On Saturday our family, and thousands of others, gathered downtown to
watch the demolition of our city's tallest building. It was not the
disaster we were expecting but it was a disaster!<vbg> We heard the boom
and saw the building *begin* to sink, then it stopped and the air was
filled with laughter! The story's been covered all over the world --
even in Australia! Not exactly what Sioux Falls wants to be known for,
but hey, it's fun!
This could begin lots of conversations at your house, as it has at ours:
demolition 'experts', crumbling foundations, expectations, repurpose of
old buildings (shoulda become a museum ala city museum in St. Louis),
Leaning Tower of Pisa, pop culture (already becoming part of our
vocabulary - my cousin lamented she didn't want a "zip feed wedding
cake")....
FWIW, I predicted it would remain at a 45 degree angle, but I was off by
15 degrees -- it's stuck at 60!
Here's the local coverage:
http://www.argusleader.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?Category=SPECIALSECTION07
video replay: http://www.argusleader.com/assets/mov/DF13214123.MOV
Here's some national:
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2002663288_tower04.html
Enjoy! :) diana
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
watch the demolition of our city's tallest building. It was not the
disaster we were expecting but it was a disaster!<vbg> We heard the boom
and saw the building *begin* to sink, then it stopped and the air was
filled with laughter! The story's been covered all over the world --
even in Australia! Not exactly what Sioux Falls wants to be known for,
but hey, it's fun!
This could begin lots of conversations at your house, as it has at ours:
demolition 'experts', crumbling foundations, expectations, repurpose of
old buildings (shoulda become a museum ala city museum in St. Louis),
Leaning Tower of Pisa, pop culture (already becoming part of our
vocabulary - my cousin lamented she didn't want a "zip feed wedding
cake")....
FWIW, I predicted it would remain at a 45 degree angle, but I was off by
15 degrees -- it's stuck at 60!
Here's the local coverage:
http://www.argusleader.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?Category=SPECIALSECTION07
video replay: http://www.argusleader.com/assets/mov/DF13214123.MOV
Here's some national:
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2002663288_tower04.html
Enjoy! :) diana
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Sandra Dodd
Diana,
I like that it might become a descriptor with people who don't even
know what it is someday. And I love that you were there. When we
saw it on TV I thought "Diana will get to see that!" but it hadn't
occurred to me you might've been there when it happened. What a
GREAT story for your kids to be able to tell in thirty or forty
years. (Now too, but there's a specialness to being able to tell eye
witness stories to those who weren't born then.)
Last night Holly reminded me of two stories. She said once, just
trying to make me feel old to be funny, she said "What color was your
horse when you were little?" And I said "grey," and tried to explain
dappled to her. And she said our friend Brett once asked his mom
(for the same sarcastic kind of purpose) what it was like when
Tylenol was invented, and she told him. <g>
My own memories of my home town seem interesting now that time has
passed. There was only one bridge over the Rio Grande when I was
growing up, so when there were parades the whole town was closed down
and all through traffic was halted for a long time. Now there are
three bridges. But when I was younger I knew a guy had been a kid
sitting in the back of a wagon and the last wagon over before the
only bridge in town was washed away by a flood. He was stick on the
wrong side of the river from his mom for two days. (He was with his
uncle and cousins.) The one bridge I knew was the replacement for
the bridge he had seen wash away in the 1930's. I don't remember his
name, but he was a substitute teacher who used to tell great stories
if the teacher hadn't left a lesson, and sometimes even if they had. <g>
Eye witness stuff is so cool. Holly asked me the other day if I knew
anyone who had been at Woodstock, and I said "No, but Ric was..." and
she interrupted and finished it enthusiastically: "Ric saw the
Beatles at Shea Stadium." Right. So sometimes it's even worth
reciting who we know who was eye-witness to what. So Holly can say
forever "Hannah and Hayden were there when that big grain tower in
North Dakota failed to collapse."
Sandra
I like that it might become a descriptor with people who don't even
know what it is someday. And I love that you were there. When we
saw it on TV I thought "Diana will get to see that!" but it hadn't
occurred to me you might've been there when it happened. What a
GREAT story for your kids to be able to tell in thirty or forty
years. (Now too, but there's a specialness to being able to tell eye
witness stories to those who weren't born then.)
Last night Holly reminded me of two stories. She said once, just
trying to make me feel old to be funny, she said "What color was your
horse when you were little?" And I said "grey," and tried to explain
dappled to her. And she said our friend Brett once asked his mom
(for the same sarcastic kind of purpose) what it was like when
Tylenol was invented, and she told him. <g>
My own memories of my home town seem interesting now that time has
passed. There was only one bridge over the Rio Grande when I was
growing up, so when there were parades the whole town was closed down
and all through traffic was halted for a long time. Now there are
three bridges. But when I was younger I knew a guy had been a kid
sitting in the back of a wagon and the last wagon over before the
only bridge in town was washed away by a flood. He was stick on the
wrong side of the river from his mom for two days. (He was with his
uncle and cousins.) The one bridge I knew was the replacement for
the bridge he had seen wash away in the 1930's. I don't remember his
name, but he was a substitute teacher who used to tell great stories
if the teacher hadn't left a lesson, and sometimes even if they had. <g>
Eye witness stuff is so cool. Holly asked me the other day if I knew
anyone who had been at Woodstock, and I said "No, but Ric was..." and
she interrupted and finished it enthusiastically: "Ric saw the
Beatles at Shea Stadium." Right. So sometimes it's even worth
reciting who we know who was eye-witness to what. So Holly can say
forever "Hannah and Hayden were there when that big grain tower in
North Dakota failed to collapse."
Sandra
On Dec 6, 2005, at 10:15 AM, diana jenner wrote:
> On Saturday our family, and thousands of others, gathered downtown to
> watch the demolition of our city's tallest building. It was not the
> disaster we were expecting but it was a disaster!<vbg> We heard the
> boom
> and saw the building *begin* to sink, then it stopped and the air was
> filled with laughter! The story's been covered all over the world --
> even in Australia! Not exactly what Sioux Falls wants to be known
> for,
> but hey, it's fun!
>
> This could begin lots of conversations at your house, as it has at
> ours:
> demolition 'experts', crumbling foundations, expectations,
> repurpose of
> old buildings (shoulda become a museum ala city museum in St. Louis),
> Leaning Tower of Pisa, pop culture (already becoming part of our
> vocabulary - my cousin lamented she didn't want a "zip feed wedding
> cake")....