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November 2, 2010
A faded dream
In October, the great machines ate their way through fields of Wisconsin, removing the corn and leaving in their wake endless streams of stubble.
Only the geese remain, pecking indifferently at the residual corn of the ruined fields. Too cold to enter the lakes. Too lazy to migrate.
Oddly, the stubbled fields lead to a failed subdivision, the high-water mark of the last economic boom.
This is where I work. At the uneasy intersection of these two realms. The farms and the suburbs. The surface of these two meet here and you can just see where the last economic boom faded. Where they threw up subdivisions helter skelter until at last, they were certain that no one would buy their houses and everything just stopped.
Everything was laid in. The streets and lights and utility boxes. All had been placed according to the county ordinances. Everything just so. And then the collapse so that on one side of the road was an abandoned subdivision, and across the street giant fields of corn and abandoned farm houses from another time.
This was the high water mark of civilization. It looked so promising. Like you could almost see the Starbucks on the corner.
But then came the recession and they just stopped development and went away and the banks moved in a repossessed the land and now signs everywhere proclaim "Land For Sale". No price. No reason. Just land. For sale. And lots of it, apparently.
A faded dream.
Posted by Rob Kiser on November 2, 2010 at 8:37 PM
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