What is it like? San Francisco, Colorado is a small town in Costilla County, Colorado. It was established in 1853–54 by Hispanic settlers along San Francisco Creek. The town is named after St. Francis, its patron saint.
History:
- San Francisco was one of the first settlements in the San Luis Valley.
- The town’s adobe chapel had structural problems in the mid-twentieth century.
- The community decided to replace the chapel with a new church in the 1950s.
- The new church, Iglesia de San Francisco de Assisi, was built using concrete blocks and casement windows.
- The church was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2012.
Iglesia de San Francisco de Assisi:
- The church features Gothic and Mission Revival elements.
- The church demonstrates how the local parish adapted modern building techniques to traditional ecclesiastical architecture.
I live in a community of 500 or so women and men. You would think that it’s quiet, quaint, and beautiful. In some ways it is. Mostly, it’s a town full of female and male version of Annie Potts. Annie Potts is the character played by Cathy Bates in Stephen King’s Misery. Yes, that Annie Potts.
Knowledgeable, kind, strong, resourceful, sweet, childish, scary, determined, brutal, psychotic… Small town living, is not for the faint of heart. There’s no police force. There’s no jail. There’s no hospital. There’s a post office where there’s coffee and pastries on mornings when the weather allows movement. Nothing much happens around here and that’s what we like most of all.
The forest sounds are familiar. The air, so cold and crisp, always smells the same – clean. Everyone minds their own business. Now, you know this is not true. No one minds their own business in a small town like this. There’s always gossip. There’s always people walking by. Some stop to visit and talk of the weather and old friends.
Babies and burials are always discussed, the national news hardly ever because it doesn’t effect our town. Oh sure, I have an acquaintance who is a state Senator. I have another acquaintance who owns an insurance agency who live states away. I haven’t seen them in years.
That’s the way it is for most of the town folk here. Well, that’s how it used to be…
The national news never reached here but today, things changed. This town was Spanish but now the last of the Hispanics are gone. ICE came through and the last of the Hispanics were taken away. The agents told us nothing. They drove in, raided the businesses and homes, handcuffed everyone they found, then left the same way they came.
We are going to dinner now to figure out what we can do to salvage what we can. We can’t reach the state until Monday to find out how to contact our neighbors who are just gone. Today, our population has dwindled…it has done so before. Those of us who are left carry on the best we can. That’s what we will do this time. People are scary. People are kind. Time catches up to us all. On this day, it was ICE that was sent by Time. All unfinished business catches up to us all eventually.
Moral: Everyone hates paperwork but it must be done. Whether it’s filing your income tax, completing your immigration paperwork, or finishing your homework. Do what you are supposed to do then go live your life.
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Whatever happens in this life. Those of us who are left carry on. Why? Because in this world there are many hurtful ugly things but if you are strong enough to hang tough you get the gift to see the miraculous, beauty of this life.
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