
Conversations from the road
In my book BOOM! I am rethinking what I know, on the road looking at our places. Listening to what people have to say about their lives, their hopes, their community. Our personal stories ring truer than this media obsessed world.
“It’s hard to know what to believe anymore. Everyone is hiding behind this social media wall.”
Kristen, Wichita, Kansas
“We lost the house, but I managed to keep the business.”
Robert, Elkhorn, Wisconsin
“You just play the hand you were dealt, and don’t complain.”
Lacy, Philipsburg, Montana
“In Iowa, Storm Lake is one of the few places not emptying out.”
Art, Storm Lake, Iowa
“As a kid growing up biracial, I did not fit in with black or white.”
Tiffany, Charleston, West Virginia
In 2017, I set out on a journey around the country filming conversations with ordinary people I would meet. These are strangers, all walks of life, that I would meet in coffee shops, hotels, restaurants, bars and pubs, collage campuses, and on the street. These are people across all divides and it is a look at who we are today. Americans. It is the backstory of our country. - John Van Dyke