August 25, 2009
Driftless: Stories from Iowa By Danny Wilcox Frazier
Life in Iowa can be punishing. Many Iowans expend their lives sweating over soil and spilling the blood of livestock; they endure the hardships associated with a life inextricably bound to the ups and downs of nature. Today, those challenges and a shift in our nation’s economy have pushed the youth of rural communities to migrate to the metropolises of America. Those left in the wake of this out-migration continue their lives, seemingly unchanged from the generations that preceded them, and entombed in obscurity.
The tension of contemporary rural life plays out here: the struggle of a family farm to continue, disenfranchised youth, the slaughterhouse, migrant labor, and the aged fading from Iowa’s mythical landscape. Through their stories we gain insight to a way of life that is disappearing, a culture that could be lost forever.
As “community” continues to be homogenized in zones of urban sprawl across the globe, we must consider all that we are losing—development should not come at the expense of more fragile communities.
Not my words – for more, click the photo or click here and enjoy. I was lost in Bloody Iowa for a week!
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Phil, you were driftless. You had the driftless regional experience.
Hell, you was even in Lost Nation.
I gotta look at this.
I hope Rick and Danny buy a place in eastern Iowa. Near the 61 Drive-In.
I am something of an expert on the 61 Drive-In.
Phil, you have lingered at the 61 longer than I have — and I live practically down the road!
I lingered, but in the truck! It was colder than many of the relationships I have had – -yeesh!
I would love to return and linger on a balmy summers evening – point the car at the screen and enjoy a movie.
Iowa was nice.
The last time I drove down Highway 61 and past the drive-in, there were masses of people assembled.
Phil, Driftless: Stories from Iowa is just stunning. I am still exploring; there is so much there. So far I have looked at Jumping Rock and Country Butcher, as well as the interview with Danny Wilcox Frazier.
I would love to see something from you along these lines — the day-tripping pensioners you stalk in Bath, for instance.
Something in a like vein from Deron, too.
It takes money, I know — and connections — to create and present on this scale. But we can help one another to do the best we can do. I’d like for us — clusterflock — to stretch ourselves and help one another to stretch.