New story: a response to “Up in the Air”
George Clooney stars as Ryan Bingham in “Up in the Air." Photo by Dale Robinette, courtesy of Paramount Pictures. Used with permission.
I saw the film “Up in the Air” at a press screening in Boston back in early November, and the movie has stayed with me since. Read “Beyond Airworld,” my review and personal reaction to the film, on the Travel Channel’s website WorldHum.com.
UPDATE: Read an item from The New York Times’s “In Transit” blog about World Hum’s coverage of this movie, and my essay.
Here are the first two paragraphs of the piece:
As a devoted occupant of the window seat, I loved the opening sequence of “Up in the Air”: postcard-like images of the landscape from above, the squares and circles of agriculture, the sense of interconnectedness—land, cities, ocean. All that is set to a soulful version of This Land is Your Land, by Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings.
I loved the rest of the scenery, too. It’s not all set in Airworld—the realm Walter Kirn described in the 2001 novel the movie is based on—but plenty is, and much of the imagery is striking: metallic American Airlines jets, a white 747 towering in a window, a single plane moving down a runway in snowy Detroit.
Celebrating souvenirs on Flyover America
Photo by Rob Verger
Over at the blog Flyover America, writers Jenna Schnuer and Sophia Dembling celebrate the parts of the United States that are less likely to be visited than, say, New York City. “The places that many people consider flyover territory—Lincoln, Nebraska; Lubbock Texas; Bayonne, New Jersey, and the like—grab hold of us,” they write. It’s a great place to lose yourself for a few hours in stories from all corners of the States.
Today, I’m a guest contributor to the site, and the subject at hand is goofy souvenirs. I write about a beloved (and cheesy) ulu knife from a long-ago trip to Alaska. Read the story here.
Photo: a sense of speed
I took this on Route 495 in Massachusetts a few days ago: 2-second exposure at dusk, the camera hand-held on the dashboard.
Rob Verger is a freelancer writer and photographer whose work has appeared in The Boston Globe, World Hum, The Faster Times, and other publications. His stories focus on travel, books, and more. Click on the Articles & Essays page above for a complete list of publications. 
