Juergen Barbusca

      Stickers vs. Postcards: A Chronicle of Travel Expressions   When I travel, I send postcards. It lets people know where I’ve been. When others travel, they affix stickers. It lets people know where they’re from. It is with this frame of reference that I speculated about the phenomenon of stickered objects. They

      A-1 Beginnings to Southernmost Ends, Phone Books Tell Stories   In the era when homes relied solely on telephone landlines, businesses vied for visibility on page one of the phone book. They achieved this by utilizing a simple yet effective strategy: combining the first letter of the alphabet and the number 1

      Nebraska’s shift to a Martian-esque Terrain   I was thirteen when I first heard War of the Worlds. Its impact has never left me. The radio broadcast always came to mind at a specific place in Southern California, where massive power pylons carrying high-voltage lines across the Mojave Desert loomed over Interstate

      Rural America’s Marketplace: The Bulletin Board   Bulletin boards at gas stations in South Dakota served as bustling marketplaces, connecting buyers with goods and services from distant communities. In our increasingly virtual world, the simple act of tacking a flyer to a cork wall retains remarkable staying power and offers a window

      Rust or Rejuvenate   After farm machines reaches their useful life, they’re either left to rust in a field and forgotten or they undergo a makeover and are showcased at a prominent spot on the farm.   To be abandoned on the north forty means the poor machine will disintegrate as rust

      Full Tank, Empty Road   On my way home from exploring Nevada and driving the length of US 50, known as The Loneliest Road in America, I slowed down as I entered Lund. This ranching community has a population of three-hundred and a single gas station. I had driven only forty miles since

      Seven Miles of Oddities on the Overseas Highway   Henry Flagler, co-founder of Standard Oil Company, built the original Overseas Highway, known as the “Eighth Wonder of the World.” It was an attribute acknowledging the engineering audacity of spanning seven miles of open water in 1912.   The Overseas Highway is the

      A Journey from the Driver’s Seat to the Museum Floor   My visits to museums had the unique ability to wash away the mental road dust that accumulated in the head-up, eyes-forward, arms-locked position of the vans driver’s seat.   At some museums, I reveled in the gleeful oohs and ahhhs from

      Currency as a Canvas, Celebrating Viola Desmond and Harriet Tubman   I spent half-a-day at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights in Winnipeg. One exhibit told of civil rights activist Viola Desmond and her story of political resistance. I learned that in 1946, the Black Canadian and hair-salon owner refused to give

      When in Rome, Dream of Green Bay   Some estimates say, the Colosseum in Rome can accommodate up to 80,000 spectators, while Lambeau Field in Green Bay has room for 81,000. Though I’ve never visited Rome, I toured the home of the Packers, where traces of the the Colosseum’s architectural influence were