March 26, 2006

a good reason to stay away from Lake Merritt

So I flew across the country today. That gave me the opportunity to browse Southwest Airlines' Spirit magazine. Its featured destination on page 34 was Oakland. The first item in the summary was this "Best Factoid":

Not only is the formerly undamned tidal marsh now known as Lake Merritt the largest urban saltwater lake in the United States, it is also the country's first wildlife sanctuary.
OK, perhaps I missed a news item. Lake Merrit was recently undamned? If it is "formerly undamned," that would mean that it is no longer "undamned," which would make it damned, right?

Maybe it was just a misspelling of dammed, but just to be safe, I'm going to start wearing garlic around my neck whenever I go to downtown Oakland.

1 comment:

Jane D. said...

Damn it! This is confusing. Who damned the lake? And who undamned it? And who re-damned it? How long will it be damned? Can anyone undamn it again?

Isn't there someone over there who could bless it? Isn't there someone over there trying to save the lake? Maybe someone from Berekely?