Heart of America

People of letters used to aspire to write the Great American Novel. When I left school, no one had done. Perhaps there's been a claim or two since, but time passed into the era of hyperbole and blurb, so there were a lot of Great American Novels proclaimed on the dust jackets of the 1980s.  Then the world turned another click and the very concept of a single America one could interpret was gone. Class, gender, race, ethnicity, origins, region, education, and tribes not yet defined each have an America. America will, to some extent, always be a colony. But the heart of America, to me, is the land. The astounding variety, the unique beauty, the unequaled bounty - the raison d’etre for this superpower colony has always been the land itself. Doom sells because doom appeals, but the truth is the wonder that we’ve preserved so much land while at the same time using its resources and bringing more warm bodies to live upon it. We’ve done a good job. They don’t have to cull the deer population in England and France. Obviously challenges remain, vigilance will always be necessary. This Independence Day, however, let’s take a day off from trafficking gloom, and celebrate the true heart of America. Our land defines us.The Great American Thing is nature. Here’s to the land, from sea to shining sea, and to the photographers who help us take a look.

I call this photograph Majesties. 

Copyright RC 2016