Car Culture

Nothing Says Tranquility Like the Hum of a Huge Diesel Engine

The Mark Sanford scandal is a bit off topic for Streetsblog but Sean Roche at the Newton Streets & Sidewalks blog points us to this incredible passage from one of the e-mails between the South Carolina governor and his mistress in Argentina. Sanford writes:

By Aaron Naparstek

8:57 AM PDT on June 25, 2009

To
me, and I suspect no one else on earth, there is something wonderful
about listening to country music playing in the cab, air conditioner
running, the hum of a huge diesel engine in the background, the
tranquility that comes with being in a virtual wilderness of trees and
marsh, the day breaking and vibrant pink coming alive in the morning
clouds — and getting to build something with each scoop of dirt.

How romantic!

And as if this story weren’t weird enough already, a profile of Sanford in American Conservative magazine provides another sordid tidbit about the governor’s diesel-powered meditation technique:

During Sanford’s first gubernatorial campaign in 2002, an 8-year-old
African-American girl wandered onto a Sanford family property on Lady’s
Island and drowned. A source close to the governor said she fell into a
“retaining pond.” Her family’s lawyer, Manning Smith, called it a
“pit.” Other sources claim that Sanford, who owned a hydraulic
excavator at the time, digs holes on his property to unwind.

Aaron Naparstek

AARON NAPARSTEK is the founder and former editor-in-chief of Streetsblog. Based in Brooklyn, New York, Naparsteks journalism, advocacy and community organizing work has been instrumental in growing the bicycle network, removing motor vehicles from parks, and developing new public plazas, car-free streets and life-saving traffic-calming measures across all five boroughs. Naparstek is the author of "Honku: The Zen Antidote for Road Rage" (Villard, 2003), a book of humorous haiku poetry inspired by the endless motorist sociopathy observed from his apartment window. Prior to launching Streetsblog, Naparstek worked as an interactive media producer, pioneering some of the Web's first music web sites, online communities, live webcasts and social networking services. Naparstek is currently in Cambridge with his wife and two young sons where he is enjoying a Loeb Fellowship at Harvard University's Graduate School of Design. He has a master's degree from Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism and a bachelor's degree from Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. Naparstek is a co-founder of the Park Slope Neighbors community group and the Grand Army Plaza Coalition. You can find more of his work here: http://www.naparstek.com.

Car Culture | Mark Sanford

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