Luminous Landscape Forum

The Art of Photography => User Critiques => Topic started by: RSL on June 15, 2020, 03:51:06 pm

Title: Voices on the Prairie
Post by: RSL on June 15, 2020, 03:51:06 pm
It strikes me that those Americans and Canadians old enough to have travelled Route 66 in its heyday and who remember prairies marked by the plumes of distant steam locomotives may enjoy “Voices on the Prairie.” I wrote it roughly fifty years ago, when steam rapidly was being replaced with diesel, and Route 66 was being replaced with I 10. I never submitted the manuscript with its pictures because I knew there was no way it would be published. But finally, in 2004, I ran across the manuscript and put it on my web. Here it is:

http://www.russ-lewis.com/Voices/intro.html
Title: Re: Voices on the Prairie
Post by: James Clark on June 15, 2020, 08:43:03 pm
Interesting stuff, Russ.  I drive from Texas to Santa Fe a few times a year, taking 84 through NW Texas, and 285 up through NM, and something like every one of the images in your article could still be seen today along that route.
Title: Re: Voices on the Prairie
Post by: RSL on June 16, 2020, 09:42:57 am
Wish I still could do that kind of thing, James. My wife and I, sometimes with kids and even grandkids, used to hang out in Santa Fe fairly often -- back in the days when young people were "going back to the land," not realizing how hard a life "the land" is. Once the Hollywood crowd "discovered" Santa Fe it became useless for anything more than a quick breeze through.
Title: Re: Voices on the Prairie
Post by: James Clark on June 16, 2020, 02:55:28 pm
Wish I still could do that kind of thing, James. My wife and I, sometimes with kids and even grandkids, used to hang out in Santa Fe fairly often -- back in the days when young people were "going back to the land," not realizing how hard a life "the land" is. Once the Hollywood crowd "discovered" Santa Fe it became useless for anything more than a quick breeze through.

Dunno - I still find it a pretty enchanting place to go.  Then again, I go almost exclusively in the fall/winter, so I never see the summer tourist crowds, and the holidays there are really beautiful.
Title: Re: Voices on the Prairie
Post by: RSL on June 16, 2020, 03:05:05 pm
After Hollywood sort of took over Santa Fe we started spending time in Taos. Used to love to go out to Rancho de Chimayo for one of their wonderful lunches. The countryside in that area always fascinated me.
Title: Re: Voices on the Prairie
Post by: rabanito on June 21, 2020, 05:16:40 pm
I enjoyed it . Thanks!  :)
Title: Re: Voices on the Prairie
Post by: Alan Klein on June 21, 2020, 06:46:11 pm
Nice essay and poem, Russ.  Glad you published it.
Title: Re: Voices on the Prairie
Post by: Kevin Gallagher on June 23, 2020, 08:26:28 am
 Russ, great article and poem! I did a quick Google search for Rancho de Chimayo and a lovely looking place did come up. It did have quire an interesting menu too.
Title: Re: Voices on the Prairie
Post by: Alan Klein on June 23, 2020, 01:00:39 pm
Russ, great article and poem! I did a quick Google search for Rancho de Chimayo and a lovely looking place did come up. It did have quire an interesting menu too.

Three months cooped up eating in!!  That menu looks great. Actually, any menu looks great.
Title: Re: Voices on the Prairie
Post by: RSL on June 23, 2020, 02:49:26 pm
Their food is superb, and hot enough. A lot of places that cater to tourists back away from properly spicy Mexican food. Not Rancho de Chimayo, and not The Shed in Santa Fe.
Title: Re: Voices on the Prairie
Post by: degrub on June 23, 2020, 10:00:46 pm
+5 on both Russ.