Some of the descriptions and anecdotes in this feature are really nice. I especially like the description of the farm on page 44, near the beginning of the article: "Get off Interstate 90, off the blacktopped country road, and finally go down the gravel track and into the farmland, listening to the power lines sing and the cottonwoods moan in the everlasting wind, watching a red-orange pickup a mile away as it crawls like a lady bug..." I think this description is quite colorful.
My only criticisms of this piece would be that the story of a struggling farmer and the description of the daily farm life are not very original, or novel. However, I thought the idea of killing the land, which was often referred to, added a bit of a twist, or new angle. The idea that so much work is put into a livelihood that is very unreliable was an interesting one, which I wish the piece had emphasized even more.
I also really liked the anecdotes about "hypnotizing chickens" and the "transvestite rooster." These added a little more personality to the piece and made the people in it seem a little more unique--plus, they were really funny.
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Alyssa,
ReplyDeleteyou make some good points here. One thing to clarify though, you mention that the idea of struggling farmers is not "very original" but keep in mind that this feature was written in 1985. So, I bet it fit that time and it addressed a topic that was probably timely back then.