#somewherebetweenherethereandeverywhere

DEPARTMENT: Graphic/Visual Arts, 15th floor of the Nakatomi Tower. Writing, 35th floor of the Nakatomi Tower

CAPTION: “To alter our surroundings is to fly free above unexplored territory”.   

Behind the wheel. Barreling down unknown road. There is no destination of certainty and no significant consequences for arriving anywhere. The trip (fueled by excitement, coffee, gasoline, and guile) is. Experience is the only defined terrain. The conversation is ocean deep for stretches at a time, then silence falls, comfortably anchored by a perfectly plotted mix; always moving in the right direction like the music in a done-well movie montage. 

The scenery is unique and flying by. The camera’s life has been put at-risk several times from ill-advised forays outside the car window at speeds exceeding seventy-five miles per hour. Inside the cabin resides a small band of wonderment wanderers, long-odd optimists regarding life’s prospects, but only when traveling. Their interdependence is rooted in the varied behaviors of their collective: the driver, the navigator, the DJ, the documentarian, the historian, and the pure passenger. 

The driver, cool and calm, in control of nothing-in-particular and everything all at once, hypnotized by the lines in the road and always holding a wayward forty-yard stare. Looking forward into the distance. 

The navigator, focused and alert, enraptured with keeping the mission continuing always in the right direction holding every ounce of responsibility toward any miscue or wrong turn. Conferring with maps, digital, paper, and imagined.

The DJ, focused, brash, and confident about the rich musical selection inspired by and solely purposed for this particular adventure. Moving from mood to mood like a sonic energy ninja building cities of sound.  

The documentarian, concentrated, quick, astute, seeing the world through the narrow portal of the camera’s viewfinder and taking picture after picture, each one serving to capture a solitary moment in time and uniting as a collective to tell the tale of the journey a thousand years and images from now. 

The historian, well-meaning, well-read, well-researched, and providing local legends and tall tales. Tidbits, factoids, and like-minutiae fall out of their face nearly every turn. It’s only a matter of time before strong threats of timely violence are levied against the historian, in-sync with the stories of the road, but unaware of the restlessness of the car’s confines.

The pure passenger, distant, aloof, and holding no specific expertise; it is the passenger that becomes the peanut butter and Swiss army knife of a crew holding them together and doing what must be done in order to keep morale high and to provide adept perspective at the most pivotal of moments. Settling inevitable conflicts in an effort to preserve strength and energy for future negotiations. 

As the miles on the odometer roll like a steamship paddle-wheel, the travelers live on, engaged in the moment somewhere between here and there; a single dot somewhere in the past and the future. Lost in time, space, and the cosmos.  

Graphic/Visual Art courtesy of Clyde Teleport.