Lower Manhattan, New York City 7a.m. I rest in front of George Washington’s statue at Federal Hall at 26 Wall Street. I sit with my camera bag waiting for the light to move so I can get a good exterior shot of the New York Stock Exchange across the street. I am on assignment this [...]
Ten Most Influential Books
My friend Tim, on his blog, burns the “Ten Most Influential Books” internet meme flame and asks what are yours? It got me thinking (as it’s supposed to), but rather than clog up his blog comments as I usually do, I dashed off a list here.

Infinite Summer: Reading DFW’s Infinite Jest
I suppose I also wept a fair bit because his suicide frightened me. It raised the specter of suicide as a kind of foreordained trajectory, a price one pays for a Wallaceonian empathy, for a DFW-tuned brain. This is an age-old notion usually dismissed as sophomoric and romantic. Still, it’s not often in your life you read someone who reminds you that you’re not alone only to wake up one morning and find that once again you are.
-
Police Room 619, September 12 September 12, 2009
-
African Sausage August 10, 2009
-
Ten Most Influential Books March 30, 2010
-
Sioux Charley Trail, Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness (Winter Count #1) March 7, 2009
-
Sheep Shearing Video April 8, 2009
-
Welcome to Montanamo Bay: Hardin Montana continues its campaign to become Gitmo North May 14, 2009
-
Magic City Hen video & Expo this Saturday September 16, 2011
-
Some Dreamers Along the Golden Line September 15, 2011
-
The Mind Eraser March 3, 2011
-
Bright Edges of the Earth December 21, 2010
-
Acceptable Blasphemies: Reflections on Opening Day October 27, 2010
-
Welcoming Autumn September 23, 2010
-
Brad Johnson: Annabel. well, I wouldn't say either sara or i ar...
-
annabel: Sorry, meant Sara....
-
annabel: I thought I might be getting a photo display of Bu...
-
Seth Gilcreast: Pretty nice post. I just stumbled upon your weblog...
-
Sundance: So true. Honesty and evryehitng recognized....
-
Lera Beile: wonderful post...
Most Read
- Police Room 619, September 12
- Where the Stress Falls
- American Sinai: Wovoka & the Ghost Dance of Walker Lake
- Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds, Ash Wednesday and the Mark of Cain
- African Sausage
- Talkin’ ‘Bout My Generation?
- The Shear Delight of Wool
- Reading Virgil on the New York Stock Exchange Floor
- At the End of An American Metaphor: Santa Monica Pier, Route 66
- July 16th along the Jornada del Muerto
About This Site
140 miles east of cool is both a place and a space.
As a place, 140 miles east of cool is where I live–exactly 140 miles east of Bozeman, Montana in the “Magic City” of Billings, MT.
As a space, 140 miles east of cool lies at the margins of the metaphorical epicenters of the amenity west: places like Bozeman, Aspen, and Boulder.











