Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2007/04/29
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Larry Z did a good job summing this up. Too often people in large cities forget how very rural this country is. When I lived in Atlanta and was in the city for several months straight I'd sometimes forget that Georgia is a farming state. You drive 3o minutes from the cities edges and you are in farm land. You drive two hours out and the cities are gone and all are towns, small towns. Here in Tennessee you are stretching it to call any of our cities large, they are all on the small side. And towns, well most are just wide spots in the road, without even a traffic light, and no they are not tourist traps. If you come here and want to get a real feel for small towns just drive from one small town to another and avoid the interstates and you will see many very neat little towns, all with an interesting character. I really dislike where I live now, Brentwood TN is all "plastic" the only good thing here is the schools are excellent. Once the kids are out of school we likely will move somewhere more "real" Oh...go visit Jim in Tullahoma, that is a neat little town...best burgers in the state used to be made there right next to Couches Photographic store, old man Couch was a very interesting fellow, made his way in photography with Graflex and had one of those photo shops where everything was to be found, plus he was one of the friendliest people you'd ever want to meet. Is that burger place still there Jim? If so I need to come over and join you for a burger. :) Also did Mr Couch's daughter keep his store open? Harrison. Lawrence Zeitlin wrote: > Most Europeans and Asians assume that the USA is characterized by the > few big cities (New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, etc.) shown in the > movies and in TV. In fact the USA has a very low population density > when compared with most countries in Europe and Asia. Australia > excepted, of course. About 80% of the US population lives in cities > along the coastline and major waterways. Most of the rest of the > country is sparsely populated. The actual population density of the > entire country is 79 people per sq. mile in comparison to India's 898 > people per sq. mile, Denmark's 328 per sq. mile, Japan's 867 per sq. > mile, France's 283 per sq. mile or the UK's 640 per sq. mile. Even > Kiribati has 340 people per square mile. > > Once you travel a short distance out of any big city in the US, even > New York, you are in rural countryside. I live about 40 miles north of > New York in a small town in the Hudson Valley. We have weekly open air > Farmer's markets just like those shown in Sonny's picture. I cannot > see my neighbor's house from any window and I have to drive several > miles for the closest shopping. That's the case over most of the > non-urban US. I grew up in the rural Midwest where the closest > neighbor was six miles away. > > The concept of a country with vast open spaces is hard for most people > in this overpopulated world to accept. When I lectured in India and > the UK it was hard to convey the image that the US was not a vast > urban metropolis. GeeBee has the remarkable facility of photographing > a portion of the generally crowded UK as a bucolic country largely > without people. But it is as much of an illusion as characterizing the > US as a vastly expanded Los Angeles. I lived for a number of years in > North Wales, hardly a densely populated part of the UK, but it was far > more crowded than my home town in the US. Living in New Delhi was like > a perpetual ride in a New York subway car. When we had visitors from > India, their first comments at getting off the airplane at Kennedy > Airport was "Where are all the people?" The only time they felt truly > at home was visiting New York City at the height of the rush hour. > > Larry Z -- Harrison McClary Harrison McClary Photography harrison@mcclary.net http://www.mcclary.net ImageStockSouth - Stock Photography http://www.imagestocksouth.com Tobacco Road: Personal Blog: http://www.mcclary.net/blog