Monday, June 08, 2009
Stay Tuned, Just Back
Yesterday's NYTimes Style Section had an article about the many blogs that get abandoned, even though I have not written in almost a month, this blog is alive and well. I was just busy with finals, re-reading theses, writing a paper myself so that right after graduation LK and I could leave on our almost 5000 mile epic road trip. We visited or drove through 14 states. The trip included: a visit (or two) to Rose (LK's Mom in Mason City IA), a great conference in Denver (Law & Society Association), a visit with an old friend, back to Iowa via back roads through the mountains of Colorado to Wyoming (where the deer, antelope & buffalo roam) & South Dakota, including Deadwood, Mt. Rushmore, the Badlands, Wall Drug and the Corn Palace. On the trip home a most wonderful tour through one of Eleanor Roosevelt's projects: Arthurdale West Virgina, meeting some of the sons and daughters of the original homesteaders.
What a wondrous country we live in--the scenery is breathtaking, the people friendly, and everything is buttered or fried (yes, today begins another diet).
Yet politics and economics were part of our trip --we drove through Elkhart Indiana, where the unemployment rate has hit almost 20 % as well as through Iowa City Iowa which has the lowest unemployment rate at just over 3%. We drove on a Wyoming road being widened courtesy of the stimulus bill. We talked to two family members who are real estate agents/brokers who say that things are picking up. We saw the gas prices go up and up for the weekends and now stay there for summer. We heard and read reports that people are taking more stayvacations and only spending on necessities. We drove past closed factories, empty strip malls and car dealerships with too many cars to sell.
We listened to books on tape--David McCullough's Truman and Jonathan Alter's Defining Moment (about FDR's first 100 days) besides a few suspense stories--we drove A LOT! And, while things are not as dire as they were during the Great Depression (unemployment was at its height 24.9%), we are experiencing a paradigm shift in the American Dream.
And, now we are home. I will write more.
On Arthudale:
http://www.arthurdaleheritage.org/
The article on the abandonment of blogging:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/07/fashion/07blogs.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=blogs&st=cse
What a wondrous country we live in--the scenery is breathtaking, the people friendly, and everything is buttered or fried (yes, today begins another diet).
Yet politics and economics were part of our trip --we drove through Elkhart Indiana, where the unemployment rate has hit almost 20 % as well as through Iowa City Iowa which has the lowest unemployment rate at just over 3%. We drove on a Wyoming road being widened courtesy of the stimulus bill. We talked to two family members who are real estate agents/brokers who say that things are picking up. We saw the gas prices go up and up for the weekends and now stay there for summer. We heard and read reports that people are taking more stayvacations and only spending on necessities. We drove past closed factories, empty strip malls and car dealerships with too many cars to sell.
We listened to books on tape--David McCullough's Truman and Jonathan Alter's Defining Moment (about FDR's first 100 days) besides a few suspense stories--we drove A LOT! And, while things are not as dire as they were during the Great Depression (unemployment was at its height 24.9%), we are experiencing a paradigm shift in the American Dream.
And, now we are home. I will write more.
On Arthudale:
http://www.arthurdaleheritage.org/
The article on the abandonment of blogging:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/07/fashion/07blogs.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=blogs&st=cse
