Travels+in+Georgia+JG

“Profiles: Travels in Georgia” Joline Gaudet

I read “Profiles: Travels in Georgia”, which appeared in the April 28, 1973 edition of //The New Yorker//, and despite the citation on the main wiki page, actually begins on page 44 and goes on until page 100. Despite the length of the article, it really does a good job of captivating the reader from the start, and holds their attention throughout the 50+ pages.

The article follows Carol, a 20-something year old biologist/ecologist, and Sam, her co-worker who is in his 40’s. They work for the Georgia Natural Areas Council, which works towards preserving natural areas throughout the state. They are, however, not your typical biologist, or at least not what we think of as biologists today. For one, much of their work involves driving along Georgian roads in search of “D.O.R’”, or “dead on road” animals. Some of these they save for research purposes, but most they end up eating for supper.One occasion in which McPhee's humour comes through is on page 89, where Carol, John and Sam are driving along a highway. "D.O.R. box turtle. D.O.R. loggerhead shrike. D.O.R gas station. It was abandoned, its old pumps rusting; beside the pumps, a twenty-year-old Dodge with four flat tires."

Later in the article, we go to Carol’s house and discover that she has a myriad of “unconventional” animals in her home that she keeps as pets; she takes care of everything from baby hawks, snakes, seagulls, a rooster to a black widow spider. McPhee mentions that he's sleeping on the living room floor in a sleeping bag, right next to Zebra, a poisonous rattlesnake Carol keeps in a glass jar with a lid. He indicates that he didn't sleep very well that night, saying "That night, on the floor in my sleeping bag, I began to doze off and then imagined rolling over and knocking Zebra out of his jar. The same thought came to me when I started to doze off again. I spent most of the night with my chin in my hands, watching him through the glass."(63)

Throughout the article, McPhee is right there with his two biologist friends. He eats what they eat, sleep where they sleep, and never passes judgement in any of his descriptions of his adventures in Georgia. If he was at all uncomfortable with eating possums and turtle eggs, he doesn’t let the reader know, but instead retells every story with vivid detail, and with a deep appreciation for nature and the conservation efforts Carol and Sam are pursuing in Georgia.This article is a good indication that McPhee is not your typical journalist. He doesn’t just interview Carol and Sam, but he actually lives with them and works with them so that he’s not just reporting their experiences, but actually sharing the experiences they had together.