Re: [Leica] Pultz's PAW 9/30/02

[Michael Gerard <geeman1066@earthlink.net>]

Carl,
    I grew up in the northwestern part of the state, and in a small town that,
as a result of its proximity to interstate highways, and the resulting commerce
that comes from skiers and leafpeepers, demonstrates the very issue about which
you write.  There was never a lot of money in the town, but there is less now.
Still, people survive, and one has to admire their fortitude and resourcefulness
in making ends meet.
Regards,
Michael Gerard
geeman1066@earthlink.net

Carl Pultz wrote:

> Michael Gerard wrote,
>
> "I like the photo essay you are building here. As a native of New
> Hampshire who grew up in an old mill town, I can picture the places you refer
> to in your captions. Have you read Rick Russo's novels, "Mohawk," "The Risk
> Pool," and "Nobody's Fool"? All are set in down-on-their-luck upstate New
> York towns, and capture well the settings and characters that live on there."
>
> Thanks, Michael. I haven't read Russo, but I'll check him out. I loved Kurt
> Vonnegut's "Hokus Pokus", which was set in an Upstate college town, like
> Ithaca or Geneseo. Could just as well have been in NE somewhere.
>
> It's not like all of these areas are dirt poor. It's not like Alabama or
> Mississippi, where (I'm told) there are whole counties of grinding poverty.
> Nor is there the wholesale gentrification that southern NH was had. There
> are some successful small businesses, by outward appearance, and many well
> kept, middle class homes, likely the property of skillful, wise and lucky
> folks who now have a decent income of pension, Social Security and ERAs.
>
> What grabs me is that small scale prosperity no longer benefits the
> communities. Beyond the incidental purchases that might go to Debbie's Hair
> Zoo, the real money goes to Walmart or some chain convenience store, or to
> a catalog merchant. Where once it would have been a house in town that was
> a showcase, and uplifted all the properties around it, the jewels are now
> spread out along the blue highways, independent, individual, end products
> of the culture of self-reliance. They don't reflect any glory on the shacks
> and trailers spread out among them.
>
> I should save it for the Guggenheim essay, if there still is such a
> thing.....but it'll be a challenge to put those sorts of observations into
> pictures.
>
> Best regards,
>
> Carl
>
> P.S. I think the reaching for an apple picture is really cool.
>
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