Category > Traveling at Home
This column, Traveling at Home, started as a way to describe my own process of trying to stay put in Central Illinois, to dig a little deeper into one place. As I’ve tried to write about this, two things have become obvious to me and to both of my readers. First, I drive a lot, and so I write about driving. Second, I read a lot. In fact, I read while driving (usually downloaded books). And the reading and …
Just about a century ago, Edgar Lee Masters published his Spoon River Anthology, a collection of dramatic monologues set in the fictional, but very real, community of Spoon River, Illinois. More accurately, the poems grew from the town’s graveyard, individuals giving voice to their own lives after their deaths. While individual lives and voices stand out, the overall effect is a pointed, critical, yet not entirely negative view of small town Midwestern life near the end of the 19th century. …
At the writer's retreat in Vermont, yellow Adirondack chairs look up to the Green Mountains. Robert Frost's writing cabin is a two-mile walk from the inn. And each morning I walk down through dense woods towards the Middlebury River to sit on a log covered so thick with lichen that it feels like a low, damp chair. I'm here to work with young writers, and, really how hard could it be in a setting like this? Send them outside. Ask …
The past two weeks have brought the first flush of this year’s spring — steady rains, then hours of sun; dandelions, flowering trees, and deep grass that needs mowing. Lilac blossoms scent the city; they bring to my senses the six or eight lilac bushes that marked the border between our drive and the neighbor’s yard when I was a kid. Thick as trees, these large, old plants bore enough fruit to overwhelm the whole neighborhood. So I’ve clipped a …
I bought my son a purple metal spade. It was the same day I bought $60 worth of herbs and vegetables at Prairie Gardens. We potted the herbs one of those warm afternoons in March. When he decided he dipdn’t really like helping with this dirty project, I potted the tomato plants and the lettuce starts myself. I had to buy myself another spade and more potting soil. He was busy playing super-hero sword boy with his little shovel. Or …
Five Short Reflections (and a footnote): 1) Five abandoned toilets sit side by side under a pair of scraggly trees. The white porcelain is vivid against the gray sky, all of it backed by acres and acres of a stubbled March cornfield. I'm on Route 47 headed south, a mile or two from I-74, on a drive I take every week. I know all the weathered, tilting barns and crumbling farm houses between Mahomet and Dwight. I know the cemeteries …
A few days ago the Obama administration announced its intentions to plant a garden smack in the middle of the White House lawn. During the campaign, advocates of organic gardening and the slow food movement pushed hard for this symbolic act, none more so than journalist and UC-Berkeley professor Michael Pollan. In Pollan’s open letter to the next president, whom he addresses as “farmer in chief,” Pollan wrote bluntly: “tear out five prime south-facing acres of the White House lawn …
I am sighing audibly and angrily (a bad habit I've been told) while carrying a dresser up the narrow staircase of my rental house. Two buddies and I have spent the morning transporting my stuff around the corner; this is the second shortest move I've ever made. We carry the usual academic's belongings: books, shelves, desks, heavy metal file cabinets — the detritus I've accumulated and winnowed for 20 years. Not counting college, I've moved somewhere around 14 times, and …
Traveling at Home, the title of this column, comes from poet Wendell Berry, the cranky, patron prophet of writing about place. Invested fully in writing about his native landscape of Kentucky, Berry insists that "Even in a country you know by heart / it’s hard to go the same way twice." I have always taken this as a moral admonition to get to know a single place in the world, to stay put somewhere long enough to notice its subtleties …
Most Recent Culture Comments
big lebowski at the art. mark it, dude.
There’s a great video promo out for “Company” too: http://vimeo.com/36077847
Had to tweet this. I ride when I can – but will have to do this all next week. More people certainly should. <a >Beach wedding</a>
@”@Local Yocal” Well, the first question is why the municipalities across the country needed to use the police to violently overthrow the Occupy encampments in the first place. I’ll let others explain that, for I have no answer. So upon receiving the request from Chancellor Katehi to…
If searing pain seems reasonable to you to handle a trespassing, then I guess that’s how we want to be policed. Well, I think as stated in the OP, how such weapons are used is important. For me, (and sidebar on the disagreement of trespassing vs.…
@”@LocalYocal”: “If the trespasser could be dragged or carried out easily…But when they actively prevent that option by holding onto something…. Pepper Spray seems a reasonable choice.” If searing pain seems reasonable to you to handle a trespassing, then I guess that’s how we want to be…
My only problem with the above comment is that your home is not a public place. But that’s nitpicking your example. I understand from the remainder of your comment the semi-validity of both sides, but make no mistake - I am 100% with the peaceful occupiers.
As someone who supports the Occupy movements, it is very tempting to indulge in the symbolism of this incident. By all means, if this can be a rallying cry for further activism, it should be used. But if we are going to look at this on a…
What a load of apologetic shit. While Holy’s conclusion is correct, Lt. Pike’s behavior was inappropriate, the use of force scale and Holy’s interpretation of the student’s actions of “interlocking arms” as an “active resistor” misses the point about what pepper spray is. Pepper spray is a…
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Nope. It’s the back (east) side of Urbana Tire Company at 202 S. Vine. How much is a hug and kiss worth? Do I have to take them all at once or can I break it up?
FACT: Silverfish feed only on carbohydrates, such as starches and sugars. They will not consume proteins or fats (the main materials from which human beings are constructed). THUS: That was not actually a human waiter we were conversing with, but rather a lifelike simulacrum created from semi-digested Fruit Loops.
nice fishnets you’ve got there, dan!
is that illini auto on main?
The geniuses at the News-Gazette site have it all figured out. This happened because we don’t have the Chief!
Pamela - Are the roasteries in Seattle as clean as CSR? It always disturbs me a little that it is so clean in there.
Now you will be able to munch on pizza and shrimp cocktails in downtown Urbana (whilst a DJ spins?) after your dissolution of marriage http://www.news-gazette.com/news/business/features/its-your-business/2012-02-05/its-your-business-new-pizza-place-downtown-urban Is this a franchise of a Reno pizza joint, or just a coincidence of name? http://www.blackrockpizza.com
Signs someone is “fishing” for a factual anchor: 1. Starts call to radio with: “I’ve been an Illini fan for (XX) years” or “I’m a diehard fan,” as if somehow that unverifiable claim will justify the 5 minutes of B.S. that follows. 2. Makes reference to KenPom…
That’s what she said.
Black dog and Siam terrace is where I always go after my divorces.
Love CSR. Apart from making my way through the regular roasts in 1/2 pound increments, I also like to pick up some of the little sample packets of the flavored stuff for when the lady and I feel like getting crazy. Sticky Bun is pretty nice.
If you happen to be getting a divorce, or fighting a DUI prosecution, downtown Urbana is a great place to eat.
HUUUUUUGE fan of their Black Velvet roast…It makes up about 75% of my coffee intake. LOL CSR is definitely one of those Champaign institutions that I brag about to people not from here. :-)
We like CSR too! We french press at home and I leave the lid off while it steeps—letting the ground beans bloom. Then, like in your tasting, I scoop off the top layer before pressing. We really need to invest in a burr grinder though, as I…
Confidential? In this state? Hahahahahahahhahahaha
just confirmed: there will be white russians served. the art abides.
big lebowski at the art. mark it, dude.
There’s a great video promo out for “Company” too: http://vimeo.com/36077847
Wow, His Majesty took the time to answer your polite plea. It’s been a while since I spoke fluent arrogance, but allow this attempt at a translation: “I deeply regret the embarrassment…” = I wish we hadn’t got caught and it wasn’t a big deal really. “...and…
I love the Guitars
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just confirmed: there will be white russians served. the art abides.