Whether it offers breathtaking natural features, a historic landmark, or simply a place for viewing other phenomena, a park can serve as an amazing magnet and catalyst for economic development. A destination park—usually state or national, and one that typically requires admission fees to enter—can yield such spinoff economic benefits that it invigorates the neighboring
In an era when almost every interstate exit offers the requisite gas/food/lodging, what is the function of publicly financed rest areas? I ponder this subject not because I have any major beef with their existence. I still use rest areas fairly often and have featured more than a few in my blog. Though most operate
Belfield, a city (per the legal definition) in southwest North Dakota just a brief drive from one of the state’s biggest attractions, has seemingly bucked the trend of similarly sized communities throughout the Great Plains. Specifically, it isn’t dwindling to nothing. Instead of experiencing dramatic population loss, Belfield has largely hovered around 1,000 persons for
Among the numerous keywords I deploy here, I use “rural” far less than I initially expected when I developed this blog sixteen years ago. Sure, rural America has comprised an element of more than 45 articles over the years: not bad, but nowhere near as much as I planned. After all, the American Dirt banner
I’ve never bothered to discern what Pierre Bourdieu would probably brand the “echelons of taste” that distinguish “folk” from “pop”. Their thematic intersection owes a great deal to the fact that they share a prosaic, anti-elitist undercurrent, but the commonalities probably don’t extend much further. While both folk and pop eschew the highbrow ethos that
During the season of giving, it’s not likely that most people’s first notion of a repository for seasonal gifts is a dollar store. Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Festivus, you name it. I suppose I’m making an elitist generalization here: after all, many people lack the wherewithal for purchase gifts anywhere other than a dollar store. Furthermore,
When it comes to human-conceived implements—tools—the maxim “form follows function” usually applies. Whether it be a saw, a trowel, a baster, or a protractor, the object in question has evolved to fit the best intersection of ergonomics (most conducive to the human hand) and its capacity to achieve a desired result as a certain implement:
The fencing that line both sides of Interstate 70 in western Colorado may lack the iconic character of those creosote-lined barriers that flank the highways surrounding Lexington, Kentucky’s horse country. The green of those rolling Appalachian hillsides offers a critical backdrop to the black-as-pitch (literally!) wood that lends structure to the fences in the Bluegrass
Keeping my tradition of singling out particularly smart business models, I’ll shift my focus away from the previous article’s burgeoning ice cream chain Kilwin’s and, this time, return my camera’s lens to an old standby: a roadside produce stand off State Route 1 (Coastal Highway) in southern Delaware. I say “return” because I visited this
As someone who enjoys long road trips (perfectly fine if they’re solitary), I can never get enough of the small, often amusing telltale indicators of the cultural composition that distinguishes a place. The visual shibboleths, if you will. Venturing across Interstate 70, one of the oldest, longest, and most heavily traveled segments of the original
Whether it offers breathtaking natural features, a historic landmark, or simply a place for viewing other phenomena, a park can serve as an amazing magnet and catalyst for economic development. A destination park—usually
In an era when almost every interstate exit offers the requisite gas/food/lodging, what is the function of publicly financed rest areas? I ponder this subject not because I have any major beef with
Belfield, a city (per the legal definition) in southwest North Dakota just a brief drive from one of the state’s biggest attractions, has seemingly bucked the trend of similarly sized communities throughout the
Among the numerous keywords I deploy here, I use “rural” far less than I initially expected when I developed this blog sixteen years ago. Sure, rural America has comprised an element of more
I’ve never bothered to discern what Pierre Bourdieu would probably brand the “echelons of taste” that distinguish “folk” from “pop”. Their thematic intersection owes a great deal to the fact that they share
During the season of giving, it’s not likely that most people’s first notion of a repository for seasonal gifts is a dollar store. Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Festivus, you name it. I suppose I’m
When it comes to human-conceived implements—tools—the maxim “form follows function” usually applies. Whether it be a saw, a trowel, a baster, or a protractor, the object in question has evolved to fit the
The fencing that line both sides of Interstate 70 in western Colorado may lack the iconic character of those creosote-lined barriers that flank the highways surrounding Lexington, Kentucky’s horse country. The green of
Keeping my tradition of singling out particularly smart business models, I’ll shift my focus away from the previous article’s burgeoning ice cream chain Kilwin’s and, this time, return my camera’s lens to an
As someone who enjoys long road trips (perfectly fine if they’re solitary), I can never get enough of the small, often amusing telltale indicators of the cultural composition that distinguishes a place. The