thoughts, photographs, clippings, etc.
I do some of my best thinking on long drives. On a whim a few weeks ago I found myself headed through the hill country of central Texas just on the tail-end of wildflower season, but as often happens on long drives I felt drawn onward into the desert. After sleeping in a cheap motel I headed south, stopping for lunch at the mostly-deserted Amistad National Recreation Area. From my journal: Having…
Stopped impulsively at the library and walked around. I realized that libraries are just good places for me. I feel good and safe when I'm there. Afterward I wrote down the things I saw, in no particular order. An endcap with materials on becoming a US citizen The librarian’s homemade watermelon earrings The section of books for teens on gender and sexuality The section of books on Nazi history…
On the roadside in Colorado, June 2020 35mm film
“When action grows unprofitable, gather information; when information grows unprofitable, sleep.” ― Ursula K. LeGuin, The Left Hand of Darkness
Driving through the American Southwest at night is an exercise in surrealism. In February of 2019 I made an album* of generally not very good and probably relatively unlistenable music. With the benefit of time, however, I see a clearer picture: a weekend spent making a core few songs, especially the ten and a half minute “Chromo Mountain, 1:30am” followed by a frenzied rush to fill in around it…
Sleeping Ute Mountain as viewed from Cortex, CO just before dawn, December 2018. This particular morning is sort of a core memory for me. I woke before dawn and drove into the emptiness west of Cortez Colorado, watching this solitary mountain as the sun came up, painted in a million different colors before settling on a brilliant blue-white. It was so impossibly, blissfully quiet.
The Daley Center Chicago, 2013 I could write a book about this particular odd trip. Sometimes you "gotta go see about a girl" or whatever.
On the roadside in New Mexico, Dec 26, 2022. I achieve a kind of clarity on road trips that I struggle to find otherwise. They force me to live in the moment.