from here to there

My grandmother sold her house on Long Island this week and is slated to move out by July 15th. When my mom and I spoke on the phone yesterday about it I told her how I want to see the inside of that house one more time, even it is empty. So we slated a plan that my little brother Will will fly out here to San Francisco for us to drive back across the country together. Will and I haven't really spent any time together since I graduated from high school, and boy-oh-boy did we not get along when I was in high school, nooooo sir. I was 18 and he was 13. Now I am (almost) 25 and he is 20. I'm excited to meet and learn one another again and, despite the richness of looking at other peoples pictures, would like to use the opportunity to start doing some archiving of my own. I thought I might ask my dad to borrow his video camera for the trip and record our conversations while driving. My parents initiate all of our most serious family dialogues when we're in the car, us Baldwin children at the mercy of our parents behind the wheel. For this project I like the idea of turning that power dynamic around by having the person in the passenger seat doing all of the recording, asking all of the questions, directing the conversations. In this way, both people are driving. Who ever is behind the wheel (I imagine we will be taking turns) will be talking towards home, their words flying out the window back towards from where we came. This sounds like a lovely drawing.