John Clayton

Relishing small triumphs

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Essay by John Clayton

Mountain Life – October 2006 – Colorado Central Magazine

WHEN I REALIZED a dozen years ago that my state’s license plates were issued chronologically, I felt stirrings of ambition. Here was a tiny yet visible status symbol, and all I had to do was wait.

At that time my plate, after the county prefix, was 4786A, meaning that there were over 4,000 vehicles lined up ahead of me in the race for a low number. But over the next several years I watched as over 5,000 lined up behind me. Then I was delighted to witness — like an odometer turning over at 100,000 miles — the first license plates ending in B.

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Social glue in a brown truck

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Essay by John Clayton

Rural Life – October 2005 – Colorado Central Magazine –

OUR SMALL TOWN has just suffered a profound loss: the departure of our treasured UPS deliveryman.

Like Santa Claus, Tony always brought us treasures. The regular mail might bring bills or junk, but Tony’s brown truck always meant a package. Along with telephone, television and Internet, Tony was our link to the outside world. But while most such links are technological, Tony was the link with the human face. He was the smiling personification of a global economy. That made him someone important in town, a guy that everybody knew, a shared currency even more ubiquitous than Paris Hilton.

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Automate This

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Essay by John Clayton

Modern Life – November 2004 – Colorado Central Magazine

THE BIG NEWS in my small town has been the new automated checkout line at the grocery store. You scan the purchases yourself, and then give the machine your credit card, with no need for any human interaction. At least that’s how I’m told it works — I haven’t used the thing myself.

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T-shirt etiquette confounds and confuses

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Essay by John Clayton

Modern life – October 2003 – Colorado Central Magazine

“Just grab a shirt and let’s go,” my girlfriend said.

But I hesitated. We were going whitewater rafting with her mother, and the top T-shirt in my drawer proclaimed its wearer an “Uneducated Idiot.” Somehow it didn’t seem a wise message.

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Ich bin ein ‘Neonative’

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Essay by John Clayton

Western Life – December 2000 – Colorado Central Magazine

“Stop waving at everyone,” said my friend visiting from California. He felt like he was in a caricature of small-town life. He figured I couldn’t really know all these people, and was just greeting them for the effect it had on him.

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When the Republic strays, people demand more democracy

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Essay by John Clayton

Politics – May 1999 – Colorado Central Magazine

When the Republic strays, people demand more democracy

by John Clayton

“Are we gonna get to vote?” comes the refrain from the crowd. “Why won’t you put the issue up for a vote?” “People throughout the county deserve a vote.”

I am moderating a public meeting. It’s a question-and-answer session; my job is to keep information flowing, civilly. On a panel sit elected officials and a consulting engineer. In front of us sit 80 citizens, expressing varying degrees of frustration and anger.

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