STILL in MOTION

ONLINE PRESENTATION

Still in Motion Home  //  Leslie Elsasser - Introduction  //  Selina Roman - Mind Currents  //  Christian Cortes

PHOTOGRAPHY
Roxi Cato - US Army  //  Wildalys Class - US Air Force  //  Agustin Collazo Jr. - US Navy and Marine Corps  //  Michael Congdon - US Army  //  Giovanna Delacruz - US Air Force  //  Amanda Dodd - US Army  //  Dawn S. Hargrett - US Navy  //  Evan Fountain - US Air Force  //  Mark Freeman - US Army  //  Robert Kidney - US Coast Guard  //  Mikko Maki - US Marine Corps  //  Alicia Morales - US Army  //  RaeAnne Swanson - US Air Force

VIDEO
James Alexander - US Air Force  //  Wildalys Class - US Air Force  //  Dwight English - US Army  //  Loretta Fields - US Army  //  Mikko Maki - US Marine Corps  //  Matias - US Marine Corps

 

EVAN FOUNTAIN - US AIR FORCE

Miles to Go

I was not always a car guy, but from a young age I got interested in mechanical things. At age seventeen, with help from my parents, I bought an old car and learned to work on cars. Later that year my Dad introduced me to Chuck, a veteran of WWII and Korea who taught me how to handle a wrench. He became like a second father to me. It is because of that old car and Chuck that I am now an engineer.

Roughly twenty years ago I joined the USAF, then about eighteen years ago I bought a truck. It was the first vehicle I fully paid for. I’ve put thousands upon thousands of miles on this truck, and created equally as many memories within this truck.

The truck waited patiently for me while I was deployed, took me on dozens of treks up and down the eastern seaboard and a trip to California and back. While driving my truck I have experienced America in almost all of her glory. Behind the wheel we have visited twenty-three out of forty-eight contiguous states. We’ve crossed the continental divide, seen Monument Valley, visited the Grand Canyon, trekked up and down the Appalachian Trail, added yet more miles travelled by a voyager to Route 66 and the Lincoln Highway, and felt the salt spray from the Pacific and Atlantic oceans.

I’ve had a dozen first dates picked up in this truck, including one who would become my wife. I’ve experienced heartbreak and elation in this truck. I’ve brought home three wonderful dogs in this truck. I’ve moved homes over six times in this truck and helped friends move their homes. I’ve helped tow vehicles home, pulled friends and strangers from ditches, and helped direct traffic around accidents in this truck. In many, many ways, this truck is me. I have seen the world behind its glass, her highways roll along under its wheels, and its people talk to me because of the care I put into this truck. I’m going to continue experiencing my state, and country behind the wheel for as long as I can.

EVAN FOUNTAIN
US AIR FORCE

 

 

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For more information:
Email Leslie Elsasser at lelsasse@usf.edu

Breaking Barriers is a project by USFCAM in collaboration with the USF School of Art and Art History, with Support from the USF Office of Veterans Success, Community Arts Impact Grant Program of the Arts Council of Hillsborough County, Love IV Lawrence 2020 Waves of Change Grant, and additional support from the ACE Arts for Community Engagement Fund and the Florida Department of State.