Welcome to this week’s Reno News & Review.
Last issue of the year. One year ago today, I was writing an
Editor’s Note discussing my arrest for driving under the
influence of alcohol. I gotta tell you, despite the fact that a good
attorney, John Oakes, was able to attack the merits of the
prosecution’s case, and the charges against me were dismissed,
the whole thing cast a pall over my year that I’m just starting
to recover from. Don’t drink and drive.
I was thinking today that painting a wall in the home is an
excellent way to launch a new year. It’s kind of like well-coifed
people who change their hairstyle or beard to illustrate or initiate
some more profound change in themselves.
I painted the most metaphorically important wall in my
house—the one with the picture window in the living
room—fresh-blood red. It was white. The obvious symbolic meanings
of the change from white to red had nothing to do with why I painted.
At least, I don’t think so, since my son Hunter picked the shade,
but I can tell you it changed the character of the house. A white
wall—particularly an eggshell wall—has no density to the
eye. The red wall made the room seem smaller, warmer, cozier.
It’s a beautiful frame for the ravine across the street.
I guess I invested about $70 bucks in paint and materials, and
I’m going into the new year with a new house. I took the time to
cut in the corners by hand. My world changed, improved, because of
something I did. There’s more color in my universe. Get it? Even
though I only spent a few dollars and hours planning and painting, my
entire next year will be different every single day from this
year—which kind of sucked. It’s a consequential change.
I should also mention that the folks down at Carter Brothers
Hardware on Virginia Street gave me as much good advice as the
employees at Home Depot gave me bad advice. The Home Depot got the
price of the paint. I won’t make that mistake again.