Word: backyarders
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RIDGEWOOD, N.J.—My grandfather built things. In a backyard somewhere in a low California valley, his treehouse subsumes a wimpy oak. The trunk seems to buckle underneath the weight of a wide staircase leading up to the habitable structure. But I imagine that this immemorial fixture of my childhood is now littered with alien toys, the once fresh carpet dank with spilled juice and the glass-paned windows smeared by the hands of gum-smacking children...
...left to imagine because I haven’t seen this treehouse for 16 years. Every time my family revisits the neighborhood, I’m forced to subsist on a teasing peek into the backyard. The sense of voyeurism hardens the feeling of having been cheated of what was once mine. That treehouse stands as a testament to a past built and lost by my grandfather...
...truck to be taken to market, and where my dad once made me and my friends get up at 6 a.m. after a sleepover and dig potatoes. My kids have been growing up in the suburbs, not knowing where food comes from. Now we are growing vegetables in the backyard, and they are helping debone the chicken, even if it seems "gross" at first. I think we will treat our environment better when we have a closer connection to where our food comes from. Sara Barton, ROCHESTER HILLS, MICH...
Wheel Questions began in Monsarrat’s backyard rock garden in July 2008, after he was inspired by The Love Guru—a Mike Myers film that received a whopping 14% approval rating on rottentomatoes.com (clearly quality)—and felt the idea was “too cool not to do it.” Now, it’s a fully-fledged, touring, interactive art project: Passerby contribute questions via notecards and Monsarrat answers them on the back, displaying the cards on a black cylinder for the world to read...
...American pop culture: Jackson was at his professional peak, and The Cosby Show was just about to debut, giving the country and, eventually, the world, the first true lesson in what it means to be black and middle class. At my party, in my grandmother's New Orleans backyard, MJ's then mocha-toned face was everywhere: on the balloons, the napkins, the paper plates. Even the cake was shaped like MJ's head, with black jheri curls. Some of the best gifts I received were leather jackets - one black, the other red - splattered with shiny, silver buttons and zippers...