Mexico City, 1969

Published: Dec. 21, 2017, 7 a.m.

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While there is still time, take your kids on a long road\\xa0trip.

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Memories are like roadside scenery glimpsed from a car hurtling down the freeway at 78 miles-an-hour. The driver sees the least, preoccupied by the task at hand. The passenger in the front seat sees a little more but not enough given she spends time looking at the driver, searching for signs of distraction or weariness. The passengers in the back have the opportunity to see the most because they are\\u200a\\u2014\\u200aliterally\\u200a\\u2014\\u200aalong for the ride, blissfully out of control and with nothing but time on their hands. The idle backseat passengers can best see what\\u2019s really close up, or really far off, and only then like freeze frame glimpses of washed out Kodacolor photos rescued from a dumpster bound shoebox...

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Listen to the rest by clicking the play button, above. The text version of this essay can be found on Medium where it was published contemporaneously. (image: "Dream of a Sunday Afternoon in Alameda Park" by Diego Rivera, 1947.)

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