Word: trunk
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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DRIVING BACK TO central Pennsylvania with my developing chemicals and enlarger in my trunk, I feel a little like a Civil War photographer travelling with a darkroom in his covered wagon. I'm headed for an old eight-bedroom farmhouse that saw its heyday fifty years ago when, according to my mother, it boasted the largest barn in the valley. Now, only the first floor is occupied by tenants who come and go. I'll live there for four weeks while I photograph the people I meet and learn about the rural valley where my mother was born and raised...
...brings down mammoth firs to fall side by side, within inches of one another. With a 20-lb. saw hoisted to his shoulder and an ax in hand, he walks on logs with the grace of a gymnast on the high beam. But standing atop the trunk that was a 200-year-old tree, he can still share in the forest's loss. "It doesn't take long," he says. "To think it's been growing for 200 years or better, and then it's down in a minute and a half. It's kind of sad. It affects...
...flood, for 200 years. The white pulpy fiber scatters in a plume beside him, and in 90 seconds, 4 ft. of searing steel have ripped through the thick bark, the thin film of living tissue and the growth rings spanning ages. With an excruciating groan, all 190 ft. of trunk and green spire crash to earth. When the cloud of detritus and needles settles, the ancient forest of the Pacific Northwest has retreated one more step. Tree by tree, acre by acre, it falls, and with it vanishes the habitat of innumerable creatures. None among these creatures is more vulnerable...
...bloc, so it is generally easy to find a driver who can understand you. But don't expect to find rural folk who speak English. And pack a lunch, since you cannot count on anything being available in most rural areas. A spare can of gasoline in the trunk is a wise precaution...
Given the frequency of such incidents, it is no surprise that the troops train their rifles at every approaching car. They check the trunk and indulge in informal interrogation. "What time does your watch say?" It should not be half an hour behind; that might mean the person joined the rebels' call to adopt Pakistan standard time. "Will you have a drink with us?" One should not say no; that might be a sign of Islamic fundamentalism. If the motorist does not pass the tests, the troops might rough him up -- and break an arm or nose...