Destination: United States
R.I.P. Kiddieland
by Eva Holland | 10.16.09 | 11:49 AM ET
The 80-year-old Illinois amusement park won’t be reopening next summer, USA Today reports. It’s a shame to see another vintage park closing its doors.
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Yahoo! BuzzMore Fun With Bad Tourism Slogans
by Eva Holland | 10.16.09 | 10:12 AM ET
There’s never any shortage of laughs to be had at the expense of bad tourism slogans, is there? This Just In has been collecting readers’ suggestions for the very worst, and they’ve got some great ones. My favorite? The reader who submitted Santa Fe’s slogan, “The City Different,” and wrote: “‘The City Different’ is the slogan lousy.”
‘The Making of a Flyover American’
by Michael Yessis | 10.15.09 | 4:09 PM ET
Feel a traveler’s love for the United States bloom through the excerpts of a 32-year-old letter World Hum contributor Sophia Dembling shares at Flyover America. She wrote it during her first cross-country drive when she was a teenager.
Partway through the drive, I started writing a letter to my brother documenting the trip. I wrote 14 pages, all the way through the final leg of the drive, San Francisco to L.A. Nick saved the letter and returned it to me a few years ago. As literature, it’s unimpressive. But as a record of the awakening of a provincial city girl, it’s kinda special.
Indeed.
Ken Burns: ‘An Unauthorized Green Room Documentary’
by Michael Yessis | 10.13.09 | 1:56 PM ET
The Colbert Report had a little fun with Ken Burns when he appeared on the show to promote his PBS series The National Parks. The swelling music. The sepia tones. The slow pans. It’s all there. Oh, and there’s potty humor.
| The Colbert Report | Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c | |
| Exclusive - Backstage with Ken Burns | ||
Does Chicago Lack a ‘Recognizable Narrative’?
by Eva Holland | 10.09.09 | 3:26 PM ET
Over at The Smart Set, Jessa Crispin speculates about what her one-time hometown means to the outside world. She writes:
Because Chicago has no new compelling storyline, the old ones will have to do for the rest of the world. Even the renowned literary magazine Granta—after spending who knows how long creating its recent issue devoted entirely to Chicago—used Al Capone as its first example of what defines Chicago in the issue’s introduction.
Celebrating ‘The Best American Travel Writing’ in NYC
by Eva Holland | 10.09.09 | 2:49 PM ET
I made it to the launch party for The Best American Travel Writing 2009 last night at Manhattan’s Idlewild Books. Series editor Jason Wilson was there, along with this year’s guest editor, Simon Winchester—who read from what he described as his “preachy” introduction on the importance of teaching geography. (Preachy or not, I think it’s a point worth making.) Contributors Elisabeth Eaves, Matthew Power and Andre Aciman also read from their essays in the anthology, a few bottles of wine were emptied, and—if I can have a preachy moment of my own—it was nice to see, despite the ongoing litany of bad news, that a book of literary travel essays can still draw a crowd.
As for the anthology itself? I haven’t gotten deeply into it yet, but it looks like another good one. Regular World Hum contributors Frank Bures and Eric Weiner both have stories included, while four World Hum stories—from Katie Krueger, Julia Ross, Emily Stone and Jeffrey Tayler—are among this year’s additional notable selections.
George Saunders Goes to Tent City, U.S.A.
by Michael Yessis | 10.08.09 | 1:04 PM ET
It’s in Fresno, California, and he lived there this April. Saunders writes on his website:
It was a very moving, sort of scary experience, that had the effect of re-energizing certain tendencies in my fiction and in me as a person, I guess, among these: respect for the real; a distrust of the American capitalist juggernaut; suspicion of my own Pollyannaish tendencies; new enthusiasm for the variety and weirdness of the world.
His 12,000-word piece about it—and an audio slideshow—can be found at GQ.
Interview with Bonnie Tsui: ‘American Chinatown’
by Jenna Schnuer | 10.07.09 | 10:07 AM ET
Photo by Matthew Elliott Jenna Schnuer talks to the author of a new book about American Chinatowns and why "broken Chinese is the mark of being Chinese American"
David Lynch: ‘Interview Project’
by Kevin Fay | 10.06.09 | 4:10 PM ET
David Lynch’s excellent travel web series, Interview Project, follows a team of filmmakers (led by Austin Lynch, David’s son, and Jason S.) as they take a 20,000-mile road trip across the States and back, talking with local folks. The resulting webisodes each feature one subject and function like intimate four-minute character studies.
We think a lot about how liberating a journey can be for the traveler, but often that liberation is contagious, and people we meet on the road open up to us in ways they normally wouldn’t. This project is a lovely example of the unique exchange between the traveler and the local. As Lynch puts it in his intro “it’s something that’s human, and you can’t stay away from it.”
‘The Best American Travel Writing’ in New York City
by Eva Holland | 10.06.09 | 9:49 AM ET
The Best American Travel Writing 2009 has landed in stores, and, for anyone in the New York area, there are a couple of upcoming events celebrating the release.
First up, Idlewild Books is hosting a launch party this Thursday, October 8, at 7 p.m. Several contributors to the 2009 edition will be reading, including guest editor Simon Winchester and World Hum contributor Elisabeth Eaves. You can RSVP to .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).
Later this month, there will be an installment of the Restless Legs Reading Series devoted to the anthology. It’ll take place at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, October 21, at Lolita Bar—series editor Jason Wilson will host, and World Hum contributors Elisabeth Eaves, Tony Perrottet and Frank Bures will be reading.
I’ll be attending both and hope to see you there.
Photo You Must See: Surfer in the Fog
by World Hum | 10.05.09 | 5:55 PM ET
REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton A surfer walks along New York’s Rockaway Beach as the fog rolls in.
Did Airport Security Ruin Chicago’s Olympic Bid?
by Eva Holland | 10.05.09 | 11:32 AM ET
Michelle Higgins ponders the impact of U.S. border control policies on Chicago’s failed bid for the 2016 Summer Games. For my part, I suppose that could have been a factor—remember the visitor shortfall in Beijing after China tightened its visa restrictions—but beyond any specific considerations, I’m just not sure about the assumption that 2016 was Chicago’s to lose. After all, the United States has already hosted the Olympics eight times, while Rio’s winning bid will mean the first Games ever on South American soil. It’s about time, isn’t it?
Introducing the ‘Walkway Over the Hudson’
by Eva Holland | 10.02.09 | 2:28 PM ET
It seems pedestrian park-bridge hybrids are really catching on. After Manhattan’s High Line opened to rave reviews this summer, Poughkeepsie, NY, has followed up with its own offering, transforming a 1.25-mile railway bridge into a state park/walkway running more than 200 feet above the Hudson River. This Just In has the details on the grand opening.
This Week in Tourism Slogan Mishaps
by Eva Holland | 10.02.09 | 12:45 PM ET
It’s been a rough week for a couple of local U.S. tourism boards. First up, the Wisconsin Tourism Federation changed its name—to the Tourism Federation of Wisconsin—after catching on that the federation’s acronym, WTF, means something different when the kids say it. And then Reno’s mayor vetoed a proposed slogan that, as far as I can tell, doesn’t mean anything at all. The short-lived idea? “A Little West of Center”—which, said Mayor Bob Cashell, “doesn’t do a thing for me.”
Indeed. As the kids might say: WTF?
Travel Song of the Day: ‘Graceland’ by Paul Simon
by Eva Holland | 10.01.09 | 1:01 PM ET