It was serendipity that I landed in Springfield during the famed Route 66 festival. Classic cars (exclusively american made) where on display throughout downtown, which strangely included a few mustangs from the 80’s.
This raises oft-debated questions in preservation, at what point is a design object or building considered to have historic importance? How the accelerated production of objects and abbreviated duration of trends affect the act of preservation?
I could tell that the classic car afficiandos attending the festival were intensely contemplating these vital issues, deep in thought as they ambled through the closed off streets enjoying Springfield’s finest delicacy, the “cozy dog” (code name for corn dog). Or maybe their troubled looks had to do with the rain.
Wild salamon[sic] is $6.86/lb at the Super Wal-Mart in Springfield Illinois. I am consistently fascinated by economic discrepancies between my old hometown and my current hometown, New York City, where wild salmon sets you back as much as $20/lb. It costs extra if you spell it right.
The terrain of the midwest is decidedly flat, crushed by a a glacial moraine some 100,000 years prior. This endless prairie is now carved up into pragmatic, tetris-shaped fields of corn, soybeans and wheat, their outlines visible from the air when you fly over the landscape on a clear day, as I did on Thursday.
