I've been doing this run now for more than seventeen years, and rarely have I done it in worse weather. I traveled the first section under ominous skies, watching hurricane-like clouds move in. It was not far from the real thing. As I huddled over my computer in my hotel room (thank you for that wireless access…I love Hampton Inns!) high winds whipped heavy rain past the urban landscape. As I set off on the second section of my journey, the rain was still falling. I saw flooded streets and downed trees, with soaked autumn leaves strewn everywhere. I visited a friend whose apartment entrance was blocked with a big fallen tree. After dinner, I set off on the last section northward to Massachusetts, in Stygian darkness, fog, and bitter cold mist. It brings back fond memories (not) of my original home state.

On those dark wet roads I thought of physics, how the simple physics I am studying goes with road trips. The water diminishes the coefficient of friction between the Electron's tires and the road, so I must struggle harder against wind and rain to keep the car on course. Banked turns add a third dimension to curved motion, while vehicles of all sizes and speeds have their appropriate momentum which I have to avoid.. Thinking about physics helps me stay awake on the long drives. Can an Electron have friction? It's a long particle path from my studio home to Massachusetts.

But now I'm here along with the packed art; this part of my mission is done. The next stage will be on the weekend when the art is put up in the gallery. For now, I'm back in the folks' house, in the dim reddish light, with the globalized, fragmented mishmosh of the perpetual television talking of one catastrophe after another: dying salmon, environmental degradation, war, poverty, plague, floods, SUV ads. The black-green woods loom outside the window. I have my physics book with me, hoping to have at least some moments in the world of calculation and exactitude.

Posted at 3:59 am | link