Washita 27 and 88

Washitaw 27 and 88

You’ll see the word Ouachita all over this region of Arkansas: It’s the French spelling of a Native American word that loosely means “good hunting and good waters”. (Wash-It-Taw – and it’s still famous for both.) French names and spellings are common around here, and of course the word Arkansas itself is a French-corruption of a Native American word. On top of that, us hillbillies often mispronounce the French names and wind up with completely new ones – but I guess a few times we decided to just “spell it in English the way you say it in French”, so you’ll find a few “Washita” and sometimes “Washitaw” names if you’ve got a good map and a good eye.

This old storefront is about the only thing in one of them… “Washita” was apparently a small community on the Ouachita River in the days before Lake Ouachita was made, and if you drive past the junction of Hwy 88 and Hwy 27, you can say you’ve been through it.

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  • frank o’shea

    There’s a subtly distinctive style that runs through your work. I may be developing an eye for stuff like that. Think I could spot most of your work, or 9 times out 10; I think!

  • frank o’shea

    Meant to say too, there’s an impression of a guy standing there over on the left side of the building. It’s just a rusted slot machine of some sort but it does have an aspect of a person to it. It’s like he’s wearing something like a bellhop’s uniform. Or a cowboy with poor dress sense. Just light and rust, but it’s there.

    • http://markcorder.com/ Mark Corder

      Thanks Frank!

      I’m being told more and more that my work is recognizable – and I’m sure part of it is the subjects as much as technique. I love “old dilapidated stuff” – buildings, machinery and the like – and if there’s a common thread running through them it’s “entropy” – which I’ll define as “The continuous ongoing disorganization of any system”.

      That may seem depressing to some, but it’s an inescapable fact of Nature itself! Most of the landscape you see around you is a result of erosion – and that’s just more entropy!

      … it happens to the best of us!

      (The bellhop standing to the left is an old soda machine – RC Cola, maybe – and it strikes me that way too. In fact it reminds me of a line from Jethro Tull : “With their jock-straps pinching they slouch to attention…”