On the way home today my train stopped for about 10 minutes because of a signal problem. I was struck by the view out my window, a completely nothing sort of place, with that old rail spur leading off toward nowhere in particular and the Hopperesque shack in the background.
If not for the differences in plant species, that could be any of countless such places all along the eastern seaboard all the way to the Florida Keys.
ReplyDeleteSometimes I feel like a frightening portion of my life has been spent literally surrounded by such places. But I also think many urban Americans don't really have a proper sense of just how much of a geographic minority their cities exist as in the broader American landscape. "Nowhere" is effectively the American geographic norm.