Monday, May 12, 2008

Thank You and Farewell, For Now



I've spent the last ten months traveling to six different regions of this country. I have struggled with myself for much of the trip. I have encountered personal battles that I have won and lost. And I have discovered first-hand the infinite possibilities and layers of the American landscape.
"The United States themselves are essentially the greatest poem" -Walt Whitman.
With Boonville, I'm examining these six towns and the people that inhabit them as my way to investigate life and modernity in America: The typology, the people, the power, the corruption and the soil: All of this is my exploration of America's identity; through one lens, "one" town, and one collective ideology.

The first part of this project--the journey--is essentially over. Farewell, and thank you all. I have had the single greatest experience of my life. And without many of you (I began to make a list of names but stopped when it reached 200), it could not have been even remotely possible.

I would like to thank a few very special people: Laura Roemer, Spencer Chandler, George Rosa, Sandra Briner + Mike Zmuda, Skip + Dawn Briner, Karen + Charlie Roemer, Jason Covert and Andrew Dailinger. You were all instrumental in making this project come true. Thank you.

And thank you to every single Boonvillian and friend I have met along the way. You--individually and collectively--have given me more then I could have ever imagined.

This journal is not complete. Stay tuned for more, if you'd like.

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