mono Monday; culture

I grew up on cowboy comics and films; before television, the Wild West played a big part in the play-culture of young boys (and sometimes girls) in post-war Britain.

Of course the reality of this imported culture was quite different and it was a long time before I had the luck to visit the USA and see for myself where the buffalo had once roamed in vast numbers.

Many years ago, driving through Custer State Park in South Dakota, I came across a bull at the side of the road; the first real wild animal I’d ever seen. It was early morning and I stopped the car to try and take a photograph.  It was a rubbish shot - this carving, from the visitors centre at the Crazy Horse Memorial, is a far more powerful memento of that encounter and the culture of that place.