In this tiny town in upstate New York I had envisioned uniform conservative political views. And yet, one early morning exploration unveiled an unexpected hand painted sign on the side of a barn at the end of a soybean field. The barn, it’s rusty red paint, under the shade of a cloudy sky and set with a backdrop of late autumn trees, seemed to perfectly encapsulate this moment in time. 

Upon returning in 2012, I was surprised to find that there had been trees planted in front of the barn. The trees had begun to grow tall enough that they would begin to obstruct the view of the barn. The paint from 2008 had worn off, and no new paint had been added in light of the upcoming election. Yet the shadow of the sign was still visible. 

In 2016, the trees had grown tall enough to overshadow the barn, still the shadow of paint from 2008 still there.