Educated in a small town, taught the fear of Jesus in a small town,
used to day dream in that small town, another born romantic, that's me...
Small Town, John Cougar Mellencamp

There's something about those old JCM songs that capture the good nostalgia of growing up in the small town of Clovis, New Mexico. With a population always around thirty thousand, the Curry County seat was the best thing going in the middle of nowhere. College kids from Eastern New Mexico University in Portales came to Clovis to fool around and cruise Main Street, country hicks saddled into to town with their big trucks and Texas twangs, and the nearby Cannon Air Force Base brought the military attitude and paychecks to the economy.

This week, the Base Realignment and Closure Commission recommended Cannon Air Force Base be closed. This is the first step of the closure process, and my old hometown will no doubt fight tooth and nail to keep it going. With 4700 uniform and civilian jobs tied to the base, it doesn't take much to assume the initial effect of its closing. It's like the steel mills shutting down in Pittsburgh.

The charm and curse of Clovis has always been its slow growth ways. If you compared the town fifteen years ago to today, the biggest change has been that the Wal-mart has replaced Main Street and The North Plains Mall as the major place to shop. Most of the new housing in the area is also near the massive supercenter. Other than that, the town is pretty much the same as it was when I grew up. It still has the best clouds in the world to stare at and day dream.

Much of my non-school time in Clovis was spent working at a my parents's bookstore, The Enchanted Sunmark. When they opened their store, the only other literary sources were the library and the magazine/porn shop. We sold all varieties of books, selling mostly children's and fantasy genres. We also sold role playing games like Dungeon's & Dragons, Battle Tech and Gamma World.

In a Bible Belt town, selling D & D was considered the Devil's work by many. The most bizarre moments in the store occurred due to our role playing games. One woman blessed the section with holy water, a brick was thrown through the front window one Christmas weekend, and of course, the occasional 'your soul will burn in eternal hellfire' rhetoric. The bottom line was that selling role playing games was profitable, mainly because of the base apes from Cannon.

Those guys had a lot of time to kill near the cow town and needed an escape. They bought role playing games like they were going out of style, which of course, they always were. They purchased the instructional books, miniatures, dice, and fantasy series from any hack writer. The Enchanted Sunmark didn't live or die on the business from Cannon, but it certainly did help the profit margin. Military money works as good as any.

I don't know what will happen to Clovis if Cannon closes down. It won't die, but aside from dairy farms, cow stockyards and simple living, there is little opportunity for folks there. If I had stayed in that town, I would have just gotten into trouble. When the sun goes down, you pretty much have to make up your own fun around there, and I spent many a night cruising around on lonely roads and hanging out at spontaneous beer parties.

Clovis is about as red as they come politically. While New Mexico voted almost fifty/fifty in the last two presidential elections, Curry County voted 75 percent for Bush in 2004. That's another reason for my need to leave the area. Bush will more than likely sign the bill to close Cannon, so the man Clovis voted into office will end up wrecking their stability. There's a touch of irony for a town that doesn't get much of that sort of thing.

Maybe Cannon closing will be a good thing. Clovis could use a kick in the pants and evolve past its stagnant small town ways. Maybe it will be a lousy deal. Do hicks really want to evolve? The small town may just get smaller.

Clovis is about a three and half hour drive away from Albuquerque, but I never make the trip anymore. There's just nothing for me to go back to see, as my folks moved to the Midwest many years ago. My new hometown replaced my old one a while back, and the Kirtland Air Force Base in Albuquerque is recommended to get more personnel. The Air Force base of my youth closes, and the Air Force base of my adulthood gets bigger. Wow, it's bizarre what happens in this world if you live long enough.

Nevertheless, I still bleed purple and root for the Clovis Wildcats. Losing Cannon will test the resolution of the people of that town, but if there's one thing I've learned about folks in eastern New Mexico: they are stubborn enough to stick to their simple small town ways through thick and thin, base or no base.

Chris Jungle lived in Clovis for ten years of his childhood.