It is a photo of Main St in Sublimity, Oregon. My wife has Grandparents here and I love to visit with them and wander this town. It seems no matter where I go in Sublimity I always wind up here. Main St will always remind me of the American Dream. It is the perfect street in that perfect little town with the perfect little family. The cool thing about this Main St is that the only thing in front of it is open space. It reminds me that as we all reach for the American Dream, the future is wide open.
I seem to be almost packed for my trip. The piles of camera gear, passports, and travel needs have been taking up most of my office for the past week. My wife has saved me by helping me pack again. I swear if it was not for her I would not have made it back from any of my trips. She even left room for 10 rolls of Tri-X film and my Leica to fit in my bad ALONG WITH two DSLR's and various lenses. You gotta love a girl like that.
I seem to follow the same pattern every time I travel. I can't wait to get started, then I don't want it to start because it means it will be over soon, then I am I ok with it and realize that I have an amazing opportunity waiting for me. I am at that last part now. I have myself a PBR, check my gear and wait.
Cione and I did not have a chance to meet this week, I bet I won't see him until I return. I have to admit I am enjoying our meetings more and more. I think this project will be a good thing and I hope folks join in, comment, and have fun with it.
4 comments:
What is the American Dream. Do you mean the text book definition, wife 2 kids, dog, cat, house. I have about half of those, but I can't really wrap my head around my desire to want something like that. I mean I love my house, and I adore my wife. But is having the rest what people really want. I think that question is subjective. For my brothers, that is exactly what they want. For me, I never was chasing after a wife and a home, it just fell in my lap. For me, the american dream is still being built. For me, the dream changes everyday, so I am never really chasing it. It is what I feel for the next step in my life.
Nick - I am very much like you in that respect. I also am not looking for the "classic" American Dream. I think for many people it is that wife, house, 2.5 kids set up. For the rest of us it is no where near that. I guess by chase I mean follow your heart and make the dream whatever you want it to be. Cione and I once had the discussion that people like me are weird. I don't want a house or to settle in one place. Neither does my wife. In a sea of 30 year old friends we tend to be looked at as odd, but we sort of like it.
Oh the American Dream. This is my favorite topic lately because talking to Carlos and my life in general is leading me to really focus on this and its meaning. I told Carlos to find a picture that conveyed the American dream. Think about that for a minute and try to imagine a picture of the American Dream. As I talked to people recently I couldn’t help but notice that people wanted to tell me what the American Dream was. I thought about how tangible and physical the dream had become. As if the Dream had itself had been packaged and put on a shelf. Just go find the color and you should be fine. Custom orders cost more but someone will make it. This can’t be what I imagined and what I would be chasing or the original intention.
I kept going back and thinking how come Carlos and I are so happy yet chasing so very different paths (More on that later). The definition is always the hang up and once again was my issue. I said to myself that I would throw out the definition and find or make a new one up. After working with Carlos to get this project going and in general looking at that picture I couldn’t find the definition. What I could find was a lot of people like me that didn’t like what they too had been told what the dream was. Until I saw the picture that Carlos posted I was having a hard time with it.
Sometimes the answer is the question. It is a lesson I learned a long time ago and forget more than I use. In this case it is very much the case. The very thought of throwing out the definition and being able to create my own can be the American Dream. So what if my dream is like millions of others. I don’t care because it is mine. I had got caught up in not wanting to accept the packaged version that if mine had any aspects in it then I was doing something wrong. I saw “i am nick” post that it just fell in his lap. I say two things, First, Congrats, but you’re selling yourself short and a little modest. Second and more importantly I doubt anything fell in your lap. If I met you I bet you could tell me all sort of effort you have put into your life. That unless your wife walked up with a house and ring agreeing with everything that you have ever said. Sometimes once your dreams come true you have to dream bigger.
My point is that the picture tells the story. Main Street with a city and dreams waiting to be built. Stop and take look. That one picture can say so many things. Add a tagline “American Dream” and it takes on meaning. It is thought provoking and lets you into the mind of others.
If you don’t agree then I say welcome once again to “3shadescc”.
For my understanding The American Dream has implications in a variety of aspects of life. It will be impossible to take a picture of the "American dream" and at the same time make every one happy because, what could be a victory for me could imply your life to be a failure. To me the American dream is the promise that all who live and have a reasonable chance to achieve success as they understand it could be (material, Love or otherwise) through their own efforts and resources of each individual…… i could be wrong....
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