FatherofRoland
11-23-2009, 10:46 AM
I'm currently to Wastelands on my 2nd time around reading this series. I am struck again by the descriptions of the "world has moved on" and all the old modern type things, showing a once thriving, advancing society that now only exists in distant memories of very old people and in ancient relics that don't work or are running on their last bits of "nuclear" power.
I am from north central South Dakota and grew up in a very rural area. A farm next to a town of 20-30 people and went to school 30 miles away in a town of 200 people. The area I lived in peaked around 1940-1970 and exists because of the old RR's that went through and farming. The RRs left a long time ago and now the farms are disappearing as other farms get larger. There are often relics of old thrashing machines and old blue grass strippers. There are old decaying farm-houses from 50-60 yrs ago or just a small dying tree patch with some fence posts marking an old farm from the 1920s or earlier.
I have to listen to my parents or grand-parents talk about how there used to be get-togethers, carnivals, dances, or other social events. Now all that's left is a bar that is in more decay than the one in The Gunslinger (can't think of the name right now).
In other words, those descriptions of "the world moving on" really strike me to a personal note because that is very true where I grew up. I realize that everywhere, even cities have changes. But there is usually new things popping up.
Just curious if anyone else out there knows what I'm talking about or has similar experiences. I'm not talking about people in a "small town" 50 miles outside a major city. I'm talking about driving 70miles to a town of 30,000 or driving 4 hrs to a city of 100,000.
I am from north central South Dakota and grew up in a very rural area. A farm next to a town of 20-30 people and went to school 30 miles away in a town of 200 people. The area I lived in peaked around 1940-1970 and exists because of the old RR's that went through and farming. The RRs left a long time ago and now the farms are disappearing as other farms get larger. There are often relics of old thrashing machines and old blue grass strippers. There are old decaying farm-houses from 50-60 yrs ago or just a small dying tree patch with some fence posts marking an old farm from the 1920s or earlier.
I have to listen to my parents or grand-parents talk about how there used to be get-togethers, carnivals, dances, or other social events. Now all that's left is a bar that is in more decay than the one in The Gunslinger (can't think of the name right now).
In other words, those descriptions of "the world moving on" really strike me to a personal note because that is very true where I grew up. I realize that everywhere, even cities have changes. But there is usually new things popping up.
Just curious if anyone else out there knows what I'm talking about or has similar experiences. I'm not talking about people in a "small town" 50 miles outside a major city. I'm talking about driving 70miles to a town of 30,000 or driving 4 hrs to a city of 100,000.