Bingham is the home of the Free American Newspaper. And even though I did get a free copy, the word "free" is meant to modify the word "American," not the word "Newspaper."

• COUNTY:  Socorro
• LOCATION:  29 miles east of San Antonio
• POST OFFICE:  1934-present
• NAME ORIGIN: Named for the man who established the post office
• GNIS Info & Map

      Bingham lies between San Antonio and Carrizozo on US 380, a stretch of road the residents of Bingham have pretty much to themselves. It was a good stopping point on my way down to Roswell, so I poked my head into the store to get some cider and to...well, you know - it's a long way to Roswell. It was there that I was given my copy of the Free American Newspaper and read for the first time about Secret Government Mind Control Projects and other conspiracies.

      When I hit the road again I started to think about conspiracies and whether I knew about any personally. The only one I could think of was one that I fell for in college. I had heard that there was a little girl down in El Paso who needed time on a dialysis machine, and that for every aluminum can pull-tab I collected, some big-hearted conglomerate would donate a minute of time to her on the machine. That turned out to be a hoax, and it made me think what else I might believe unquestioningly that was nothing but malarky (sp?).

For example, the guiding truths of my childhood were:

1) Frogs can't burp so if you make them drink Coca-Cola, they explode;
2) The kid who played Mikey in the Life Cereal commercials died from eating Pop Rocks; and
3) If you get really dizzy from spinning in one direction, spinning in the opposite direction will undo the dizziness.

      With the exception of number one, which I'm still sure has to be true, I'd be willing to bet that these "truths" are anything but. That means that my entire adolescence was built up around flimsy empirical reasoning. It's a wonder I made it into adulthood alive.