Growing up in Michigan, the meaning of the "lake effect" didn't conjure mental images of a beautiful summer day, rather, it referred to some of our most brutal winter storms. The types of storms where where warnings were issued, roads were closed, and schools were cancelled. In meterolgical terms, lake-effect snow is produced when warm air from the lake meets the a cold air mass, resulting in bitingly cold winds. The type that you can feel in your bones.
The Pure Michigan campaign's play on words capitalizes on this natural phenomenon to promote Michigan as both "pure" and "perfect" destination. Actually, the entire campaign, which was founded in 2008, capitalizes on the state's natural wonders--miles and miles of freshwater coastlines, magnificent dunes, natural falls--to push forth a narrative of Michigan as pure, pristine, and enchanted. Thinking of my home, this narrative holds true in many ways. It's the Michigan I want to remember, but I know it's much more complex, messy, and variegated. The Michigan I knew was first and foremost industrial. Landscapes of water were imposed by smokestacks and factories. The VtP collaboration will allow me to trouble this image of Michigan as “timeless and true." It will allo me to think about nostalgia and the conceptualization of purity more generally. Just thinking very superficially, purity could easily be placed in opposition to toxicity. For something to be pure means for something to be free of contamination. But how can we trouble that a little bit? Could something be purely toxic? I plan to use very specific sites within the state juxtaposed with the Pure Michigan campaign to layer the state's beauty and toxicity. Many of the sites I will analyze in this project are also tied to the toxic political culture of the Michigan State Legislature and even the Trump White House’s push to defund conservation efforts in the Great Lakes region.
Visualization that invites readers in
Growing up in Michigan, the meaning of the "lake effect" didn't conjure mental images of a beautiful summer day, rather, it referred to some of our most brutal winter storms. The types of storms where where warnings were issued, roads were closed, and schools were cancelled. In meterolgical terms, lake-effect snow is produced when warm air from the lake meets the a cold air mass, resulting in bitingly cold winds. The type that you can feel in your bones.
The Pure Michigan campaign's play on words capitalizes on this natural phenomenon to promote Michigan as both "pure" and "perfect" destination. Actually, the entire campaign, which was founded in 2008, capitalizes on the state's natural wonders--miles and miles of freshwater coastlines, magnificent dunes, natural falls--to push forth a narrative of Michigan as pure, pristine, and enchanted. Thinking of my home, this narrative holds true in many ways. It's the Michigan I want to remember, but I know it's much more complex, messy, and variegated. The Michigan I knew was first and foremost industrial. Landscapes of water were imposed by smokestacks and factories. The VtP collaboration will allow me to trouble this image of Michigan as “timeless and true." It will allo me to think about nostalgia and the conceptualization of purity more generally. Just thinking very superficially, purity could easily be placed in opposition to toxicity. For something to be pure means for something to be free of contamination. But how can we trouble that a little bit? Could something be purely toxic? I plan to use very specific sites within the state juxtaposed with the Pure Michigan campaign to layer the state's beauty and toxicity. Many of the sites I will analyze in this project are also tied to the toxic political culture of the Michigan State Legislature and even the Trump White House’s push to defund conservation efforts in the Great Lakes region.