Community Corner
For Art's Sake: Greg Hindy and the Road Less Traveled
Three months into his year-long vow of silence, Greg Hindy is finding the rhythm of the road.
Greg Hindy is somewhere in South Carolina today, silently celebrating the humble quarter-anniversary of his year-long trek across the country, from New Hampshire to California.
In round numbers, he's traveled about 1,000 miles in three months, taken upwards of 2 million steps, based on rough calculations of distance from New Hampshire to South Carolina, times an average of 2,200 steps per mile.
That is one way to look at what he's accomplished so far on this one-man performance art project during which Greg Hindy is using old-school photography skills to capture his journey on film using cumbersome equipment which he hauls along with him - a field camera, a tripod, and special film.
Another way to look at what Greg Hindy's accomplished is through a Facebook page his father, Nashua psychologist Carl Hindy, has launched- Greg Hindy -- One Year Performance: Walking, Silence.
There you will see a collection of comments, some from friends and family, but mostly posts by virtual strangers who've encountered Greg Hindy on the roads less traveled, quite literally, as he continues to journey off the beaten path.
"We hear from the nice people, not the ones that aren't so nice; we dont hear about the trouble. The closest hints of troble were some of those notes Greg includes in the packages of film he sends – a few that hint at situations, 'I'm sorry I didn't mean to be on the highway – it was a mistake,' my wife thinks a policeman must have asked him what he was doing," says Carl Hindy.
"I don't hear about what the problems are he's encountered. But I look at his bank account daily and sees he marches along at 25 miles a day, so he must be well physically, and he's at least humoring me – he could take out cash and not use the card. But when he buys a $3 Gatorade he knows he's sending me data," Hindy said.
By Oct. 9, the three-month point, Hindy said his son is making good time as he approaches Florida."I don't know if they're the exact roads he anticipated, but the route is what he anticipated, and he took this circuitous route – that was his plan – old roads that were once the primary ways before super highways, because he doesn't want to attract a lot of attention to himself," Hindy said.
But as moderator of the page, it is Carl Hindy's voice that carries the weight of the journey. As much as he wants to give his son the time and space he's creating in a 360-day journey away from home, Hindy is in a state of constant awareness of his son's whereabouts.
"I have Facebook running in the background all the time on my computer, and I tend to look up the places he's been using Google Earth, so I can zoom and and see the landscape," Hinday said.
He takes care of the practical matters, too, which include shipping more film as needed ahead of his son's destinations, and receiving packages of exposed film, which often include some "letters to home" in the way of road-worn souvenirs the exact size and shape of a tattered 3 x 5 card.
Hindy was heartened to learn his son had met up with a bicyclist recently, from Massachusetts, who is now traveling with him to Florida.
"I was pleased to see that, to see some more sustained interaction with another person. Aside from his physical health, I'm concerned about anyone's emotional wellbeing if they've been isolated and away from interaction with people," said Hindy, not just from a paternal point of view, but from a psychologist's take on things.
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"I'm sure he flashes his cards and communicates daily, but he has to tell the short story of who he is and what he's doing, 'My name is Greg, I'm 22 from New Hampshire doing a project. Can I sleep in your yard?'
"Sometimes in the cards he sends he talks about what it's like to feel thoughts slipping away, and getting confused. It's a deprivation type of endeavor, and so I think having a companion for a while will help to reset his gyroscope," Hindy said.
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Hindy suspects there is some self-discovery for all those who are watching from the sidelines, and not just for his son.
"As a psychologist, I've been preaching all along the sort of dogma that I believe, that it's important for people to struggle with identity and figure out what's important early in life rather than do what's expected. So much of my work is with middle-aged people who spent their life doing what was expected and now they're wondering what it was all for," Hindy said.
As a pure performance art project, the walk is what it is, and stirs different reactions from those who are taking it in, which is part of the process.
He is also aware that some parents might be less inclined to cheer their Yale graduate on as he spends a year on a vow of silence, growing a beard and hauling a clunky camera across country.
"A typical parent would say, 'You don't appreciate the sacrifices I made.' If I were saying that to Greg, what were those sacrifices? That I went to work? So, I sacrificed being able to do the very thing he is doing, which is stepping away from convention and finding his own way," Hindy said. "I understand it."
As Greg moves into the deep south and then veers west, Hindy said he will probably worry a little more than usual about his son.
"One of the bigger dangers is being hit by a car, more so than any other danger," Hindy said, one of the constants of the trip that, over time, are simply part of the calculated risk involved.
"He's heading into areas less familiar to me, and I am concerned that as he looks more scruffy will he be treated differently. But I take heart in the small things, like a message posted by a woman from South Carolina, written by Greg, to me, that said, 'Just let him know that I'm enjoying myself, and I feel very in tune with the project," Hindy said.
Hindy is hoping anyone who has known his son – former classmates, teachers, coaches – will find their way to the Facebook page and follow along. Click this link to find Greg Hindy's project page on Facebook.
Related stories:
One Year Vow of Silence for Nashua Yale Grad
Mum's the Word as Yale Grad Hits the Road
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