J.W. Burleson photo / Boquillas del Carmen, Coah.

PHB

My photo
Brooklin, Maine, United States
We own a 1975 GMC Sierra Grande 15 in Maine and a 1986 Chevrolet Custom Deluxe 10 in West Texas. Also a pair of 1997 Volvo 850 wagons. Average age in the fleet is 28 years--we're recycling. I've published 3 novels: THE LAW OF DREAMS (2006), THE O'BRIENS (2012), and CARRY ME (2016). Also 2 short story collections: NIGHT DRIVING(1987) and TRAVELLING LIGHT (2013). More of my literary life is at www.peterbehrens.org I was a Fellow at the Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study for 2012-13. I'm an adjunct professor at Colorado College and in the MFA program at Queens University of Charlotte. In 2015-16 I was a Fellow at Harvard University's Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study. The Autoliterate office is in Car Talk Plaza in Harvard Square, 2 floors above Dewey Cheatem & Howe. SUBSCRIBE TO THE AUTOLITERATE DAILY EMAIL by hitting the button to the right.

Tuesday, October 2, 2012

1953 International pickup & American landscapes

I'm in Colorado for a few weeks of teaching. Scale of everything is different here than in the Netherlands. Colorado is beautiful in October, with the cottonwoods flaming yellow, but the raging sprawl of American towns & cities against the front range of the Rockies is dispiriting, especially to an eye accustomed to the careful and respectful way the Dutch treat their country. North American landscape especially in the West is treated so carelessly: with what feels like almost hostile disregard. Our civilization treats our land quite brutally--like the land is an enemy.
            John Brinckerhoff Jackson had a keen, challenging eye for Western landscape. He's always worth reading.
            Old pickups abound. I've had my eye on this 1953--I'm guessing--International 3/4 ton.





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