Matthew Newton

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A Place and What it Means

At the playground. Photograph by Austin Anton

In June Behrens’ Where Am I?, a 1969 children’s book featuring photographs by Austin Anton, each two-page spread offers a poem-like set of clues and an image to help you answer the question posed in the title.

The grass tickles my toes.
I like to swing and slide.
There are picnic tables.
See the baseball diamond!

Though intended for elementary school readers, I found myself rather drawn in by the poem-like writing and Kodak color images after stumbling across it at an annual book sale at the Edgewood Club here in Pittsburgh.

The places in Where Am I? are not neighborhoods or towns or cities. Instead, they are the many places we find ourselves inhabiting throughout the course of our lives: It’s just a different version of the guessing game Who Am I?

At the auto garage. Photograph by Austin Anton

At the store. Photograph by Austin Anton