My view of The States (Andy Driska) « msubotswana2012

Here’s my entry for a photo-blog for an upcoming trip to Botswana with the MSU College of Education.  I’ve got five photos to encapsulate five elements of culture and geography in the USA.  Want to guess what I chose for a landscape?  It’s a landscape only a few would choose. My view of The States (Andy Driska) « msubotswana2012. Continue reading My view of The States (Andy Driska) « msubotswana2012

Does where we live make us happy?

I stumbled upon this index of “Happiest American Cities” and it got me to thinking about just what exactly makes me happy to live where I live. East Lansing, Michigan, is not the kind of place I brag about living. It’s not “where it’s at,” but for me, it has what I need: I walk to work each day, I enjoy my job and my education at Michigan State, and I have been satisfied by the relationships I have formed with the many people I have met in the past half-year. It doesn’t have the vibrancy and diversity a huge … Continue reading Does where we live make us happy?

Wild and Wonderful Whites of West Virginia

Just watched this gritty documentary on dancing, fatalism, and pill-popping in coal country W.Va. Best part, hands down… one of the dudes shaking a bottle of pills, “that’s the Boone County matin’ call.” The movie chronicles the White family of Boone County, WV, who seem to be a relic of the Hatfield-McCoy era. The movie is marked by rampant drug use, mostly snorting prescription pills like Xanax and Vicodin, and lots of casual pot smoking. This goes on during most family gatherings. In the final scene, where they are having a party out at a city park, the little kids … Continue reading Wild and Wonderful Whites of West Virginia