Dr. T.J. Eckleburg

Dr. T.J. Eckleburg has been staring at me. A few buildings south of Osmond Designs just prior to the Lehi Roller Mills exit.

Gatsby is on my mind. Leonardo buzz. (gag*) A Gatsby bag featured in this month's Real Simple "Finds Under $50" page. A woman in town wearing a draped white linen dress that was last worn by Jordan Baker. I saw a dad bullying his son in the weight room and I kind of wanted to step in and say, "Easy, Tom Buchanan." Every night as we lock up the house and turn off the lights I see the tiny, green light of the DISH receiver and think of Daisy's East Egg dock. So it's only natural that I am hallucinating and seeing the staring eyes of Dr. T.J. Eckleburg from I-15.

I couldn't handle it any longer, so I drove through the Valley of Ashes to see for myself. (It might as well have been the Valley of Ashes as I had to park at the red railroad museum and walk along the tracks until I found it.) Turns out the eyeglasses are actually smiley faces. Graffiti smiley faces...surrounded by boarded up windows, junker cars and broken bottles. Well slap me silly and call me Meyer Wolfsheim.

* "What's wrong, Wass? I think he'd be a good Gatsby." -Greg