My job when I started 12th grade was on the loading dock at Del Monte during packing season, stacking pallets with boxes of cans of creamed sweet corn, 24 to a box, 18 boxes to a layer, 6 layers high, four 'til eleven. My partner on the dock was a good-humored guy named Den. I'm not sure, maybe he was stoned, but he seemed to like, agree with and approve of most everything, and when he liked, agreed with or approved of something he would say, "Neato bosso!" with grinning enthusiasm. This helped, because during this period I was rarely grinning and never enthusiastic. A few years later a friend of mine at the U of M, a guy named Parker, said or did something--I don't recall-- that I agreed with, maybe, or who knows, approved of, and I said, "Neato bosso!" I was stunned to learn that there actually was a company headquartered in Wyoming named Bosso whose enduring slogan was "It's so neato it's Bosso!" Since then I have traveled throught the Big Lever region many times, and have come to know its people. This area has a rough history, as areas so often do, but a spirit of freedom and justice has always prevailed there, even when it was dubious in fact. Now that virtually everyone works for Bosso the facts are more dubious, and with the recent rumors that Bosso may well close up shop within five years the future is as well. Let's hope the spirit there can revive, among everyone, all the way down to the loading dock. |