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Iowa Field Recordings, June 2010

May 23, 2016 by campbell Leave a Comment

Photo of an Iowa sunset

When I lived in Iowa, I lived in a rural area. When I moved to Seattle I couldn’t take the soundscape with me, so I recorded it. Here it is: bugs and birds and frogs and the occasional distant truck. Enjoy.

Serious chunks

September 17, 2014 by campbell Leave a Comment

Message on postcard:

Dear Hungus,

Chunks chunks chunks chunks chunks. Chunks, chunks, chunks… chunks and chunks. Chunks chunks chunks-chunks; chunks chunks chunks. Chunks chunks? Ha! Chunks. Chunks chunks chunks chunks chunks chunks chunks chunks chunks chunks.

Sincerely,
Mike

PS: Chunks chunks chunks Witzke?

Subscription postcards: Big strides, greywater reservoirs, and badgers

January 24, 2013 by campbell Leave a Comment

Postcard collage: A giant foot about to step across the Mississippi headwaters. Text: Award for stepping across the Mississippi River, Lake Itasca, Minnesota. — Hello Andrew! Here’s a postcard I picked up last summer at Lake Itasca, home to the Mississippi headwaters. Itasca is a made-up word, derived from the phrase *veritas caput*, Latin for “true head”. Apparently the actual headwaters of the Mississippi were a matter of some contention. While there I strode across the Mississippi with my dog Skillet. I was warned to be careful; if he peed in the river near the source he could flood New Orleans. A man and his dog, flirting with danger.

Postcard collage: A big sign that says "DAM" in front of a backlit sequoia. — Hello Mollie! I hope you like this postcard — I made it using a dam-awareness brochure I picked up in Minnesota last summer. Out here in the west all the reservoirs seem kind of low. I have been doing my part to help: I save all my used dishwater, and once a week I drive up to the mountains to dump it in the nearest reservoir. I am joining thousands of other planet-loving Americans in my quest for a greener earth. It must be working — when I turn on the faucet, the water comes out soapy and full of potato peels.

Postcard collage: A man in running clothes next to a tent and pine trees, with the text "All Natural". Behind him is a badger. — Hello Kathleen! Here is a postcard that I made last summer while I was in the Midwest. After I made this postcard I saw a badger in Iowa’s Loess Hills — another great case of life imitating art. For such fierce creatures, badgers sure are cute as the dickens.

-Mike

ps: Did you know Wikipedia has an article titled “List of Fictional Badgers”?

Collage correspondence, part 1: Iowa and Wisconsin

July 16, 2012 by campbell Leave a Comment

These postcard collages are some of the artwork that I created for this summer’s Kickstarter project, Greetings from the Back of My Van. Shown here is artwork from Iowa and Wisconsin. The messages that I sent on the back of the postcard are shown in the captions below each image. I’ve edited them slightly for content — that way you don’t have to read “Thanks for backing my Kickstarter project!” over and over and over again.

Postcard collage of dog in front of barge in Mississippi river in Iowa — Dear Edwin — I spent a few days at a friend’s cabin just north of Gutenberg, Iowa, watching barge traffic not unlike what you see here. Watching the barges float by was like a slow-motion thrill ride. There were also freight trains that would pass by on the river’s Wisconsin shore. The freight trains were less thrilling, but still fun to watch. You see a lot of good action movies where the bad guys are chasing each other atop moving trains, but you never see action movies with big budget barge chases. Probably this is because falling from a train is scaring, but dog paddling in funny-smelling water is not.

Postcard collage of Effigy Mounds, Iowa -- Speedboat, woman, and text saying "Farther, Deeper, and More Dangerous" — Dear Caroline — Effigy Mounds was one of the first stops on my trip through the Upper Midwest. Contrary to this postcard, it is not farther, deeper, or more dangerous. It’s close to where I grew up and lived for a time as an adult, and it’s peacefully located on dry land. It’s one of my favorite places in Iowa… I remember driving there with a friend one February after his dad died, but I’m not sure where I’m going with this anecdote, and even if I was sure, I’m out of room.

"Weird Winter" postcard collage from Wisconsin. Snowshoes and flying people. — Dear Mika — Greetings from the United States of America! I’m not sure what winters in Finland are like, but this is pretty typical for winters in Wisconsin. Of course, it was summer when I visited, but it still looked a lot like this. That’s because we spray the entire state with a giant aerosol can that shoots a gummy, plastic-based fake snow product. Every three years there is a reapplication, because the adhesive wears out over time and the fake snow starts to fall off. When that happens it is washed into rivers and flows out to sea. Eventually it all congregates in a garbage patch in the Pacific Ocean. One day all the fake snow will form a Christmas island; we’re all really excited.

History, culture, and shopping postcard collage — Dear Alexis — This is from Dodgeville, near Wisconsin’s Governor Dodge State Park. It’s a beautiful place, but a more accurate name would be “Tick City State Park.” This is a good year for ticks in the Midwest — no, wait, I mean it’s a bad year. You know. Anyway. Now that I’m writing this, I’m really worried that maybe you have a tick phobia or something and that this postcard will be really unpleasant to receive. If so, please know that I’m deeply, deeply sorry, but I’m in too deep to back out now. If it’s any consolation, please know that I too think ticks are totally gross and creepy. I should have written about my dog.

Postcard collage - Monitoring Florida Panthers 24/7 — Hello Danie — This postcard is from a place I drove past but didn’t visit on this trip. I went to the House on the Rock maybe five times during my high school and college years, and each time I went the management there did an increasingly better job of screwing it up. The HOTR was built by Alex Jordan, who Frank Lloyd Wright kicked out of his posse because he was threatened by his legitimacy. Jordan built a sweet house and filled his estate with cool stuff. There’s a letter from him to his visitors where he’s like, “The purpose of this house is to kick it,” and it’s like so true, but management is anti-cold-kicking it, but it’s hard to explain here.

Postcard collage of engineer in front of wind farm in Wisconsin — Dear Jamie — Wind farms are neat. I’ve never seen one on a postcard before. I appreciate that. But the phrase “Wisconsin is ranked in the top 20 wind-producing states” bothers me. [This assertion was written in the caption printed on the back of the postcard.] First, there are fifty states. It’s like saying, “Wisconsin is slightly above average, scoring a C+ in wind power.” Second, Wisconsin doesn’t produce the wind, it harness its mighty power. Anyway, sorry for all this complaining. Wisconsin is beautiful and windmills are a good thing. I hope your’e doing well.

Postcard collage of woman climbing up trees and deer in Wisconsin winter — Chris — Not a lot of people know this, but Wisconsin is a premier destination for the small but growing number of fans of deep winter tree-and-game climbing. It’s a new extreme sport that pits the fierceness of human athletic prowess against the snow-muffled stillness and serenity of nature. But this year we think the cat may be out of the bag. *The New York Times* just did a big story on it, and Katie Holmes is going to Wisconsin this winter to “climb some ungulates and just recover” from her divorce. Exciting times!

A conglomeration of things

Iowa Field Recordings, June 2010

Serious chunks

Subscription postcards: Big strides, greywater reservoirs, and badgers

Collage correspondence, part 1: Iowa and Wisconsin

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