Something I Love

FRANCE

Had you grown up when I did, your folks would have shopped for groceries at a franchise store like Krogers (or A & P, or Farmer Jack's) and besides "Green Stamps" they could have purchased over the course of many weeks volumes dedicated to particular subjects. In my home these included the 24 volume set of the Young Person's Encyclopedia, 16 volume set of the books of the 50 States, The 12 Volume set of the History of the United States, The Charlie Brown pictorial dictionary, and the 12 volume set of Rand McNally's Illustrated Atlas of the World.

MALAYSIA

I loved every one of them, and read them and studies their illustrations and pictures and dreamed of a future without limits.

Yet, of all of them, the Rand McNally Atlases held a sacred hold upon me. Covering the various regions and continents and cultures of the world as it revolved around the sun in 1972. I imagined a day when I would go to these places and see these things. And in my life thus far I have been fairly blessed to go to places like Brazil, Canada, China, Costa Rica, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Nicaragua, Portugal, South Africa, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, Vatican City, and Zimbabwe.

NORWAY

The thing about these books was just how much I loved more than the maps. I studied the facts, the photographs, the flags, and love most of all a series of simple ink drawings that accompanied most of the country entries. To this day, they remain amazing little portraits. And while I clearly understand how they both promoted and at times attempted to deny cultural stereotypes, they are none-the-less beautiful.

TANZANIA

Realizing how dated they are, I no longer imagine meeting a Masai farmer tending to his fortune in cattle. Well, at least not without his ipod dangling from the enormous loops of his earrings! We cannot turn back the hands on the clock of time. Nor should we want to--the idealized past is just that, and idea of what is good and safe and beautiful--doubtless anything that we have ever imagined was.

URAGUAY

So I don't see these images as represent- ing anything actual. They represent a fantasy. And for that I love them....and they're just daggone wonderful drawings!