A Trip Home

Janesville, Wisconsin was where I was born and grew up. I haven’t lived there for over thirty years. A recent trip there raised the question of, “What is home?”

Geese 1

It was already near the end of November but there were still geese who had not started their journey south. They have a winter home and a summer home.

Geese 2

Geese 3

The manufacturing institutions for which Janesville was noted are no more. Parker Pen was sold, moved, resold . . . the large manufacturing facility sits idle. The downtown office where a neighborhood friend’s father walked everyday to his job as chemist has another building in its place.

The General Motors Assembly Division plant is closed and the smaller businesses that used to support it have fallen on bad times as a result.

Beloit, a dozen miles downstream on the Rock River, has made art from the remnants of its former foundries and factories. The Beloit Riverwalk makes a showcase of these former industrial facilities.

Beloit Riverwalk 1

Beloit Riverwalk 2

Beloit Riverwalk 3

The building above never had a wall on this side as I recall. It was one of those places where the furnaces kept it hot even in the middle of a Wisconsin winter.

Interior Design

Beloit’s downtown looks surprising well kept. Making way for some new construction has exposed the interior decoration in this older building.

I found some memories but I did not find home on this trip to my home town. I am still working on the concept of what is home in a world of impermanence.

 

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