This blog is in the process of transforming... from a journal of travel across the country into a journal of travel across the landscape of film. And, the theme remains, Tripping over Utopia, as there are few places in the twenty-first century where ideas can be boundlessly explored and actions can be ideal without restrictions.
Originally:
The purpose of this trip was to begin gathering and processing ideas for my master's thesis that I began in the fall of 2007. As my mom and I traveled across the mid-western United States, my hope for this trip was to discover a sense of the landscape and environment that became the receptacle for several optimistic realizations of/attempts at Utopia. The term or name for such a paradise on earth, as coined by London lawyer Thomas More in 1516 in his text Utopia, can be translated as a derivation of the Greek ou (not) and topos (place), yet the word also is somewhat of a pun in that the "U" might refer to the Greek eu (good) as well. Thus, Utopia could be literally translated as "no place" that might also imply a "good place." As none of these experimental colonies of nineteenth-century America remain extant, perhaps this is a most appropriate term for their current or even destined state. Their idealistic aspirations, however, cannot be easily discarded as irrelevant.
So, we landed appointments for a massage! Afterwards, I took Mom for a taste of what I consider to be State College's biggest treasure -- ice cream at Meyer's Dairy. With Butter Pecan and Black Raspberry in our bellies, we had to take it easy for the afternoon though.
yummy...ice cream
Later in the evening, we took off to watch the local minor league team, the Spikes, play against the Williamsport Cutters. It's a tough call to say what was the most entertaining moment -- when the obnoxious guy behind us complained about my friend, Garrison, leaning forward to chat during the down times of the game, the potential for a ball to the head behind home plate, the fireworks, or the rumble between the mascots.
Sadly, although Spike kicked the lumberjack's pants, the Spikes lost to the Cutters 1-0.
Due to a slight delay in Memphis, Mom's flight came in later than expected. But, this was the last hitch -- not to say that it was too much of a hiccup. First things first, we had to eat. So, we headed to downtown Philly for a yummy Philly Cheese Steak (when in Philly...) followed by a bit of shopping. Then, we navigated our way (a bit precariously) to the Philadelphia Museum of Art to catch a quick glimpse at their treasures and, yes, pretend to be a super-heroic, smashed-in head, world-class boxer for just a moment. You can imagine...Mom running up the staircase, turning around, and shaking her fists in the air victoriously. We closed the museum down and were kicked out at the last minute (not too unusal for our museum visits).
We scrapped our initial idea to stay overnight in Philly and opted to go on back to State College to try to plan a massage for Wednesday. Still awaiting an appointment...
yummy...ice cream
