Tom Novak   artist    illustrator
Meet the Artist

My Vietnam experience

        Vietnam. Hot, swelteringly hot, no relief anywhere kind of hot, not even in the shade ... and smelly, stinky, but I think that smell was due to the occupying force, us, and our rotting mess hall wastes. I never noticed that funky smell while in the jungle or the paddies or anywhere else away from our influence . The country itself is beautiful. Some of the most visually stunning as well as most peaceful moments of my life were experienced there. Sunrises like I have not seen since, though admittedly I purposefully tend not to be awake at such hours. A feeling of calm and serenity would come over me while I was taking my turn at ‘watch’ out in the middle of no damn where, as the sun rose up across shimmering rice paddies and I could already feel that orange light heating up my face, then the moment would go all strange and surrealistic as the quiet was interrupted by the soft, staccato, hammering of automatic weapons fire from somewhere out there, and you knew some poor fool had already hit the shit. But there I would be, in a place of peace and calm, no disturbance. The nasty hadn't gotten to where I was yet. Incredible.

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