Vegas to Africa

Soon: more photos + trip commentary, interspersed with thoughts on all the latest in film!

Update 7/6/11: A little bit more, as promised, but only a little, as I still feel defeated by the corrupted memory card that contains many of the best pictures. Movies in the next post.

grass, Gallup

sand, Window Rock

rich neighborhood, near Scottsdale

homesite wash, near Navajo

canyon shadow, Window Rock

parking lot tree, Tempe

more trees, Tempe

snowy mountain, Provo

Dispatches:

The light in New Mexico is such that I’d never seen before; all is bright color and nothing is ugly in its equal glow, even prefab franchises so dismal and embarrassed in any other land.

[Insert the prettiest picture of a McDonalds ever taken.]

Probably better than meeting a famous person is the honor of entering these piecemeal cities and conjuring the dead, crushed humanity that made them possible.

[Insert diptych of dusky, humid Kansas City intersections.]

I predicted we’d emerge from the gray, soupy Midwest somewhere in Kansas, and we did, as we skated along that vast piece of rippled green paper, presided over by an orange sun. The Midwest will celebrate the barely perceptible fluctuations in its topography (all dales, woods and waters), but unpretentious Kansas is truly exciting land.

[Insert green ripple, though I suspect it turned out much too dark.]

Epilogue:

Is it necessary to conquer one’s fears of irrational behavior that other people consider normal? Re: highway driving: probably, because I don’t like the idea of going somewhere new except by land.