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Oops!

Check out this snafu in this article about the Vishnu tour in the Western Courier on Friday:

(I try not to be too harsh in poking fun at any newspaper, student or professional, because I’ve been in their shoes. But this one made me truly LOL. Couldn’t resist!)

The Friends of Vishnu want to respect the wishes of Ira Post and keep it a wildlife sanctuary, where no animals are harmed. The current caretaker of Vishnu Springs is Morris Wells, who helped get people to and from the parking area.

McDonough County sheriff Johnny Carson was also on site to help. He estimated that throughout the six hours that Vishnu was open to the public, roughly 1,000 people attended.

Go ‘head, give it a good read.

I have driven past this sign on East Calhoun in Macomb for many months. And each time, I have wondered: WTFrick?

But a few other questions have arisen as well.

1. Shall we begin with the unique spelling of “Maqom?”

   The first time I noticed this sign, probably on a trip home from the Aldi or from bein‘ over ta’ the Wal-Mart’s, I thought, “Holy typo.”

   I figured this church is struggling for cash. When the deacon or whoever got back from the Signprinter’s and realized the mistake, they didn’t have the money to do a re-print.

   And yet…

2. It’s so far off the mark ….maybe it’s not a typo?

   I mean, something about that curly Q in place of the “C” seems purposeful to me.

   So here are other potential theories:

   A) There is some kind of alternative movement in Macomb that I am just not hip and young enough to know about. The members of the movement have a great collective sense of humor and the use of “Maqom” is supposed to be like….using the word “rawk” for rock-n-roll.

   And yet there’s that whole fact that it’s in front of a church…

   B) It is the church’s attempt to draw in the youth through “hip” use of Kwik-e-Mart grammatical grossness. Some of the elders sat around at church council and said, “Hey, I know! Let’s spell it with a Q! And leave off the B! And we could use ‘Rite’ and ‘Nite‘ in really cool ways too!”

   C) Is it not referring to Macomb at all, but instead a word from some ancient or perhaps African language.

   D) Some other and better theory (which you should leave in the comments section below)?

3. Now, let’s move onto larger questions.

   Namely:

   A) seriously what is this place?

   B) Why is this Church of Maqom “restored“?

   The placement, er, rather propped-up-ed-ness, of the sign, leads me to think this is the latest incarnation of something that existed once before.

   Is that indeed the case? If so, what happened to the first church?

   C) Or is the word “restored” some kind of denominational indicator (such as “Fresher! Now with more fundamental roots!”)?

   
   If you’ve got better theories—or if you know the answers to any of these questions— please let me know.

   I simply can’t go to Aldi again without knowing the answer.
   

Former WIU archivist Marla Vizdal has started a Facebook group for Vishnu Springs.

Check it out to see pictures of the size of the crowd from last Sunday!

(Something like 1,500 people got to go inside the old hotel. I’m so jealous!)

Singer/songwriter/famous daughter and sister Martha Wainwright recently dropped by Daytrotter in Rock Island and recorded a bunch of songs, which you can download for free here.

That’s right, for zero dollars.

Long live Daytrotter!

… but back on this beautiful June day, I wanted to capture those clouds.

Check out some more of my rural-life snapshots on my Photography page or on Flickr.

Thanks to Ziggy and HerGLX3 for the reports of the Vishnu Tour!

Oh, how I wish I could’ve gone. Especially to see the inside of the hotel, to view those photo albums HerGLX3 mentioned, and to hear those“extras” that Marla Vizdal shared.

As I’ve blogged about before, I first heard about Vishnu when I was 15 years old, and I was so fascinated by what I learned back then that I felt as if I was being told about something truly magical.

An old hotel deep down in a ravine that you “can’t see from the road” was in itself—after having lived my life on this flat, flat prairie—exciting enough, not to mention the idea of the place turning into a counterculture commune (right outside my little ol’ homogeneous hometown).

Since having actually seen the place (ok, I admit it, I trespassed), I admit that it seems at first like not much more than a dilapidated building out in the woods. Big whoop.

But if you know the story, and the fact that you’re standing at the spot of a ghost town, and when you think about such a bustling area once having existed there… it still fascinates me.

This article about the tour from the McDonough County Voice does a nice job of summarizing the history and the current status of the place.

Also, there’s a brief mention of a former tenant from the commune days.

“It had its wild phase before I got here,” he said about the hotel’s student-rental era. Fortuna also recalled the harsh winter he spent there, being snowed in for days at a time and shoveling his way up the road leading out the hotel’s valley. …. “It’s a beautiful place.”

a report about Sunday’s Vishnu tour from one of my esteemed readers:

IT WAS PACKED! I have no idea how many people would have been there – would love to hear a head count. Traffic backed up, lines waiting to get in, steady stream of walkers in/out the whole time we were there.

Now come on, that means there are some people out there who need to send me some details. Had you been before?
Learn anything new?
Find any evidence of Al Capone’s ghost?

C’mon, peeps, I want to hear from ya.

So did anyone out there go the Vishnu Springs tour this weekend?

(I couldn’t go because I was in the Quad Cities.)

Did you take pictures?

Was there a good crowd?

Who led the tour?

Did you see any ghosts?

Tell me tell me tell me!

Condo’s for sale.

Oh really, it is? Which one?

I drive past this gated-community-in-development every weekend that I’m in Davenport visiting C-Nor.

On Sunday afternoon, I decided I just can’t take it anymore: it must be made fun of it publicly.

The entrance to this gated community has lots of ornate fountains and concrete statues of (horrifically ugly) fish at the entrance.

Yet nothing says “class” like ….”condo’s.”