Hogback or CommieBlock?

"You have two choices, you can either..." It usually starts like this and it's generally a choice between two really unappealing options. Though sometimes to mix it up it's a choice between a couple of blissfully wonderful set of circumstances. ''

"You have two choices" I say, "CommieBlock or Hogback?"

Hogback is a vast expanse of nothingness in Northern New Mexico. It's a dusty, empty and desolate town anchored by the tiny Navajo town of Shiprock on one end, Farmington on the other and surrounded by vast expanses of open sky and red bluffs. A place where dreams go to die or simply are never born. In recent times, it's a place where dreams are vaporized into pseudoephedrine and Drano puffs of smoke before they ever have a chance to be acted upon. Casualties of the crystal meth craze that has scorched the earth of many small, western towns in the United States.

We have driven through Hogback many times over the years. We use it as sort of a bar--a measuring stick of yuckiness. So, it's not unusual for it to be a choice in this game. Today.

"You have two choices" I say, "CommieBlock or Hogback?". At this point I always have to qualify that it's only these two choices. Given license, she'll generally come back with a third--more appealing alternative. And the game is nothing, if not a lesson in critical thought. Even when it's the version of the more pleasant options, she'll usually find a way to have all them all.

She surpises me today. She answers "CommieBlock" without hesitation. I can't answer that quickly. It's a tough call.

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