J.W. Burleson photo / Boquillas del Carmen, Coah.

PHB

My photo
Brooklin, Maine, United States
We own a 1975 GMC Sierra Grande 15 in Maine and a 1986 Chevrolet Custom Deluxe 10 in West Texas. Also a pair of 1997 Volvo 850 wagons. Average age in the fleet is 28 years--we're recycling. I've published 3 novels: THE LAW OF DREAMS (2006), THE O'BRIENS (2012), and CARRY ME (2016). Also 2 short story collections: NIGHT DRIVING(1987) and TRAVELLING LIGHT (2013). More of my literary life is at www.peterbehrens.org I was a Fellow at the Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study for 2012-13. I'm an adjunct professor at Colorado College and in the MFA program at Queens University of Charlotte. In 2015-16 I was a Fellow at Harvard University's Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study. The Autoliterate office is in Car Talk Plaza in Harvard Square, 2 floors above Dewey Cheatem & Howe. SUBSCRIBE TO THE AUTOLITERATE DAILY EMAIL by hitting the button to the right.

Thursday, December 24, 2015

Presidio County Courthouse, Marfa Texas (1884)

And the (1986) C10 Chevy
It's easy to make fun of Marfa as a high falutin' art town planted in the high desert but the reality is more complicated, more hopeful, more interesting. And if it wasn't for Donald Judd, and Chinati's roster of visitors and artists-in residence (like Rob Fischer) Marfa would probably look a lot like Van Horne or Fort Stockton or even Valentine, other West Texas once-were-cattle-towns that have more or less dried up and blown away. Marfa has its issues, to be sure, and the gap between privilege and unprivilege can be disconcerting and painful to behold. But Art has done far better by this Texas town than any other industry ever would, be it cattle, cotton, oil, or factories. Art feels here to stay, along with it tourist dollars, construction wages, tax revenue, and a mix of citizens--deep locals and people from Away-- sharing a common interest in making and keeping the town as a thriving community.

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