Dreaming of Gary
Leo Sprinzen

A feeling of claustrophobia pervaded my visit to Gary. I felt shut in
and unable to escape. A photograph can be misleading because it only
shows what's ahead of us, but in Gary there was no looking away.
Abandoned buildings, giant steel towers, piles of dirt and soot,
barbwire, asphalt, brick, ash, the vast landscape of industrialization
spread out before us. Gary was there, no matter where I looked.

I have tried to recreate the experience of being gripped by a city's
image. I hope you too feel uncomfortable, confined, disturbed, and
angry when you step into my recreation. Inside of the box I have
placed images of Gary as I saw it on our trip, while on the outside
are photographs of the beginning of Gary's rise to prominence.
Together I think they represent the rise and fall of Gary, Indiana -
the death of a dream.

As you step out of the box, think about the materials and energy that
have built America, and, quite possibly, parts of Oberlin. Without cities like
Gary, little of the American Dream would have been realized. In a very
real sense, Gary has always been here, no matter where we looked.