Licia Kuenning's "Kathy Lee" website > If I Were Free to Speak My Mind
"If I were free to speak my mind, I'd tell a tale to all mankind...." - and if one can't reach all mankind one can at least reach the portion of mankind that crosses that very special bridge: Center Bridge of Farmington, Maine.
But what is that big white signboard that drivers enjoy looking at as they cross the bridge to see what its latest message is, and talk about it afterwards? How does it come to be there, when there is nothing else like it anywhere?
It is the Thoughtbridge sign, and there is nothing else like it because there is nothing else like Thoughtbridge, and nobody else like the owner of Thoughtbridge, Joel Batzell. It is a unique Farmington landmark.
The 19th-century frame building, which began life as a barn and was once a blacksmith's shop, was bought by Joel in 1973 and converted to a dwelling; he named it Thoughtbridge in 1977. It has long served as a temporary home for many otherwise homeless people who contribute work in place of rent.
Joel writes, "I, for one, have found that helping others, even when I've had my own problems to deal with, has been a way to make me feel better about who I am. It has had a very beneficial effect on me to think I made just a little difference in someone else's life and someone I don't even know."
"To love," he adds, "hopelessness doesn't exist."
There have been times when Joel's situation looked hopeless, but somehow he has kept his beacon before the world these past 31 years. He made a difference in my life.
Joel at one time ran a sign-making business, and Thoughtbridge has always been noted for signs, sometimes controversial ones. The present big signboard was mounted there in 1991, when Center Bridge was moved, to make messages visible to people on the new bridge.
What many do not realize is that the Thoughtbridge sign is open to their message too, for what is a modest rental in consideration of its visibility. Newspaper ads (which may be more expensive) reach only those who read that newspaper, easily go unnoticed, and disappear from view when the paper is discarded. Notices on the Internet are seen only by those who look them up. But the Thoughtbridge signboard is always visible to most of the people who drive through Farmington.
The message need not be one that Joel Batzell agrees with. He is a passionate believer in Freedom of Speech. Commercial messages from off-premises businesses are legally prohibited, but ideas are not.
When I started coming to Farmington in 1978, Thoughtbridge was right at the end of the bridge, rather than off to one side as it is now. It was a very conspicuous presence, but I didn't know what it was. At a much later date, when a controversy about Thoughtbridge arose in the news, my husband Larry and I went to visit Joel to learn more about it. I don't now remember much of what was said, except that Joel talked mostly about the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. Afterwards Larry said to me, with humor but not unsympathetically, "He's a displaced '60s radical."
(Larry K. was wrong, however. Joel Batzell isn't a displaced anything. He is right where he belongs.)
I talked with Joel only once or twice between that time and when I began to write the novel, Farmington! Farmington! in which he figures so prominently. My invisible Guide, who dictated the novel to me (I really didn't write it myself) was sure that when God turned Farmington into the New Jerusalem, Thoughtbridge would be its Information Center. I didn't even know, when I published the book in August 2005, that Joel had a signboard that I could put a message on.
I saw that there were signs on Thoughtbridge, but I thought they were all Joel's messages. Then one day just before the election of that year, I was driving up Rtes 2&4, and I happened to look at Joel's sign. On it was a political message that I had seen elsewhere and knew was not Joel's own writing. In the lower right hand corner were the words "A PD AD." Illumination! I well knew what "A Paid Ad" meant. It meant, "the views here expressed are not necessarily those of the editor." I was aware that there are editors who put that note on my messages (and some who will not print them even with that disclaimer). "A Paid Ad" to me meant, "freedom of speech." I lost no time in getting in touch with Joel and finding out his rates for posting on that board, and as Farmington residents know, my prophecy was on the Thoughtbridge signboard for most of the next two and a half years. (Did Joel ever believe it? I don't know, but he never sneered at it. Once he said, "I hope you're right." He has a lot of practice at hoping.)
In the process, however, I may have caused some people in town to forget that the sign could be used for other messages. When it seemed that God was taking his time about turning Farmington into the New Jerusalem, and my finances were running low, I stopped running the prophecy 24 x 365 and cut back to about a week per month, though not without misgivings about withdrawing the financial support my persistent advertising had provided to Joel. I knew that he had used it to make much-needed improvements to his aged building.
There may be something that you would like to say to all who pass by. Maybe a favorite quotation, a birthday greeting, or some word of encouragement or uplift. Maybe you have a meeting to announce. Or it could be something controversial that you care about for which your perspective doesn't get enough attention. If you feel moved to rent the Thoughtbridge signboard to say that the New Jerusalem will be in Texarkana I don't think Joel will object (though I personally would opt for something more upbeat!) :-)
Message: (use all caps)
__________________________________________
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Maximum length: 5 lines, w/ up to 25 characters per line.
Your name: _____________________________________
Address: ________________________________________
__________________________________________
Phone:___________ E-mail_______________________
Date(s) you want message to appear_________________
(dates may get booked up in advance)
1 day rental: $20.00
1-week rental $115.00 2-week rental $200.00
3-week rental $275.00 4-week rental $350.00
(These rates are for the whole board. Ask about per-line rates.)
Further details available from Joel Batzell, 207-778-6400
e-mail: thoughtbridges@yahoo.com
