In the case of old photographs, the great equalizer is time and neglect -- by which any old photo, no matter how insignificant at the time it was taken, has a similar chance at achieving historical value. Today, we will examine a few previously unseen photos from the American Airlines freight agents' office at Willow Run Airport, taken in the early 1950s.
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The proof is in the packaging
Some products are so small in proportion to their value that a reasonably-priced package may end up being more package than product. But this presents a peculiar possibility: that a small hiccup in the manufacturing chain could lead to a case of all package and no product -- and leaving no evidence but your indignation.
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Dryad’s saddle
Dryad's Saddle is a marginally edible wood mushroom with a remarkable affinity for enchanted places.
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The last shift at Cunningham’s
Often, a photograph reaches its true potential only in the fullness of time. These previously unseen images from a Cunningham's Drug Store of the 1950s show that neglected negatives can emerge from hibernation to find a second life that is every bit as robust as the first.
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The forcing function of fire
Any public place where people can freely meet can support socialization — with the people you’ve come with, that is. What is missing is some element that allows groups to break out of their self-containment, and interact in a spontaneous, genuine, and uncontrived manner, with people they didn’t come with. On a cold evening, a shared fire pit can be a social forcing function.
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Last exit to Rawsonville
A ghost town has the power to linger on in its own absence -- perhaps through the continued use of a place name, the passing-down of oral legend, or the persistence of wooded hills and feral fallows, cloaking mysterious features that only the legend can explain. Here we take an excursion to such a site.
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The extraordinary, ordinary postcard
Despite the ongoing decline of what many disparagingly refer to as “snail mail,” there remains a segment of the population that has not yet lost touch with its unique qualities, and fears the prospect of losing this supposedly archaic medium forever.
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Below Susterka Lake
Shrouded by the wooded shoulder of a busy blacktop road, a forgotten mill dam retains the flow of a small stream -- as well as the fading summer memories of a generation of truant children.
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Excursion to an unexplained hickory grove
In a sufficiently inattentive world, sometimes the best place to hide is in plain sight.
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Finding freedom in steamed pasta
When working at home, especially alone, the duties of working and feeding oneself must become integrated. In this article, we'll explore the radical concept of cooking dry pasta like rice, by steaming in an ordinary saucepan -- a culinary heresy that promises to finally free us from the burden of the boiling pot.
