The United States of America is a country that is so diverse that each of its fifty states has its own defining characteristics. State by State: A Panoramic Portrait of America is a collection of essays each written by different authors. The organizers of this effort, Sean Wilsey and Matt Weiland, intended to have a refined view of each state.  Joe Sacco and Alison Bechdel, visual artists and graphic novelists/documentarians, wrote about Oregon and Vermont, respectively. They both decided to write about their state in graphic form, and they had different styles of conveying the quirks of the state. Joe Sacco spoke mainly about his personal life, even going into his relationship with his girlfriend. Alison Bechdel made Vermont seem very unique with its rugged individualism and connection with nature. Since she went into the most detail about the state’s people, politics, and geography, and because she offered an insight into the State’s character affecting her own, Bechdel was more successful in her depiction of Vermont.

Bechdel includes characteristics about Vermont that Sacco did not introduce. She described Vermonters as a “Chai-sipping, artisanal cheese-eating, NPR-listening, Subaru-driving, left-wing freak show”. She begins with explaining the awesome mountainous geography that she enjoys cross-country skiing in. Furthermore, Bechdel moves on to explaining the progressivism of Vermont, since it was the first state to abolish slavery and “allow same-sex couples to have ‘civil unions’”. She traces the roots of this independence to when the Green Mountain Boys used their own flag to declare Vermont its own republic. Vermont also has an abundance of snow and a “mud season” where the snow melts. She feels that everyone is very well connected in the local environment simply because they live in Vermont, with the “microclimate, brief spring times, the particular contours and declivities of [the] rural, plural habitat”. All in all, Bechdel just wants the reader to understand that Vermont is unique because of its geography, people, and politics.

Joe Sacco begins his take on Oregon with his dislike of the constant rain. Telling us about his life, we learn that his girlfriend works at a winery; he shares that the summer heat gives flavor to the grapes and adds that he and his girlfriend grow tomatoes in the backyard. Sacco hates the heat and suffers in hot weather- “in any weather”. Sacco also writes about a friend who paints natural scenes influenced by man’s destructive actions, such as a forest being cut down to make room for a development. He looks into these paints feeling as if he’s “superfluous, like [he’s] only taking up sacred space”. This shows that Sacco feels like he doesn’t belong, possibly because he didn’t know of Oregon’s desert and lived in an area lacking natural land to appreciate. In the end, Sacco describes the Pearl District, which has been modernized from machine shops and loading docks to luxury condos and restaurants. From Sacco’s illustrations, I only perceive that Oregon is a state with rainy weather and hot summers, not much more.

Autumn in Vermont

Vermont is characterized as a progressive, individualistic state that has a great local atmosphere and is a geographic wonder. By apologizing to the audience for being “superfluous” to the state of Oregon, Sacco lets the audience relate to his situation and understand that he isn’t connected to the state as he should be. It seemed like Oregon was a place to live if you wanted a suburban life that was close to nature too. He seemed to focus on his individual life a little too much instead of on the state, for my taste. I thought the point he made on feeling as if he only takes up space was very interesting and could be expanded on by going beyond his limitations and  drawing the reader further into the natural aspects of Oregon, since, after all, the paintings depicted some amazing scenes. Why not use the self-pity to move away from himself? Why is it important for the reader to understand Portland life’s troubling weather at the expense of history, geography and other things? On the other hand, perhaps he limited himself on purpose? Sacco’s essay could also be interpreted as fulfilling Weiland and Wilsey’s purposes. Maybe what Sacco loved most about Oregon or specifically Portland was the prime weather condition for grapes. He also adds in the end that they “toy with the idea of moving downtown” because it has developed from dangerous loading docks to luxury condos. Perhaps Sacco purposely left out information on Oregon’s history and geography because its weather and lifestyle was what he loved most, not because he had a lack of information on the state.

Thor’s Well, Cape Perpetua, Oregon