PHOTO ESSAY -  
         PLACES OUT OF TIME
 "how ‘busy’ the river is—islands, bridges and, in the distance, the bluffs of Minnesota." 
                            ​Photo by Charlene Anderson                          

Mississippi:
River Out of Time
by  Charlene Anderson

I told a friend once that I was born on the Mississippi River. He said, “Oh, you mean on a barge?”  I laughed. “No, in a hospital on the banks of the river in La Crosse, Wisconsin.”
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The river was formed thousands of years ago. So, it really is a river Out of Time. Still, it flows smoothly on as if it doesn’t know how old it is, or care. 
A barge on the Mississippi.
But no, I wasn’t born on it!
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​This picture shows how ‘busy’ the river is—islands, bridges and, in the distance, the bluffs of Minnesota. At La Crosse, the river constitutes the border between Wisconsin and Minnesota. Downriver about 30 miles, it makes up the border with Iowa:
Mississippi River with islands, sloughs and byways--
and even a bridge.
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​I grew up 15 miles from the river but even though we lived a considerable distance away, the river played a significant role in our lives. We had to drive up the highway beside the river whenever we went to La Crosse for medical appointments, shopping and to visit my aunts. I would sit in the back seat and stare at it, fascinated, almost mesmerized. It had a kind of life of its own as it flowed down, down, down to the Gulf. Watching it was hypnotic and thought-provoking. I thank it for making my mind flow as it flowed and I am grateful for its beauty.
 
But besides being beautiful, it was also powerful and even dangerous. When I was five, my cousin Gerald drowned in the river. He was 16 and he and a friend were fooling around on the bank, as teenagers will, when the friend fell in. He couldn’t swim. My cousin couldn’t swim either but jumped in to try to save his friend. Sadly, they both died. So, I learned at a very early age that, besides its beauty, it was a force to respect and even fear.
 
A freight train track ran beside the river highway. The trains were often slow-moving and very long, so it was lucky we didn’t have to cross the tracks, or we’d have been waiting all day.
Freight train moving north towards La Crosse
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Naturally, there are more than only lovely vistas to be seen on the river. This tree standing in river water is both stark but also strangely gorgeous.
Dead tree in shallow river water
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​Inside the city of La Crosse (population 52,000), there are numerous parks where you can lounge on benches and watch the ducks enjoying the river—no longer restricted only to squinting across the river trying to make out the hills of Minnesota. So, the river is beautiful and powerful, yet can also be as lazy as a restful summer day.
Duck floating on the quiet river
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​​Soon after she retired from UCSF, a friend told Charlene Anderson about OLLI at SF State and she began taking classes. In 2015, in one of those classes, Mike Lambert suggested starting a literary and photography magazine at OLLI. So, Mike, Charlene and a small group of OLLI members, founded Vistas & Byways. It has been publishing stories, poems and nonfiction pieces, as well as photography, ever since. Charlene is pleased to be part of V&B which provides OLLI members an opportunity to be published. 
Other works in this issue:
Poetry:
​    The Trouble with Time
    All Aboard

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We Welcome Comments
Vistas & Byways Review is the semiannual journal of creative writing and photography by members of the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) at San Francisco State University​.
Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at San Francisco State University (OLLI at SF State) provides communal and material support to theVistas & Byways  ​volunteer staff.
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