Back in the Day.

When I was a kid my dad gave me a book about the history of Stone Mountain, Georgia (the mountain, not the town). I ignored most of the book because it was obsessed with the fucking carving that now blights it. But what I did like about it were the many photos of the mountain before it was violated by that stinking carved monument.

Somewhere along the way I lost that book, and I wish I still had it just to see those photos. Because the mountain was beautiful in those days. I recall there was a series of photos showing the initial dynamite charges being set off to straighten out the bulge of the cliff face to facilitate the obscene picture that now mars the mountainside. Even as a kid those photos made me want to vomit.

I don't know why the mountain became a center for Klan activity and white nationalism. Maybe it was because the man who owned the property was also a piece of shit and invited them in. I sincerely don't know (and don't care).

At any rate, it's hard these days to find photos of the mountain pre-carving.

Here are a couple for those of you who might be interested.

I vividly recall the first time I went to see Stone Mountain. They were still working on that goddamned carving. My dad and I were standing at a viewing platform below looking up at the schmucks carving rock. I turned to my dad and asked, "Who are those three guys in the carving?"

And my dad answered, "Just three goddamned assholes who don't amount to a pile of cow shit."

Some nearby people glared at my dad but didn't say jack shit.

One of the largest granite monoliths on Earth. Almost 900 feet from base to summit.