My name is Andrew. i grew up in Central Alabama in the 1980s and 90s participating in all of your usual teenage boy activities - Boy Scouts, fishing, sports, and once old enough perfume and gasoline (not necessarily in that order). But I also spent quite a lot of time in books and magazines. I read my World Book encyclopedia for fun, had a full set of the "Growing Up With Science" series, subscribed to Popular Mechanics and Popular Science. But most of all, I cherished my dad's subscription to National Geographic. He had subscribed at least since the early 70s and had all of his issues in a bookcase in our living room. I recall reading issues in the 80s over and over and over - the exploits of Robert Ballard in finding the Titanic, the eruption of Mount St. Helens, a divided Berlin, and of course the famous "Afghan Girl" photo.
So all this to say, National Geographic magazine holds a special place in my memories. So that leads me to here and now with the hopes that this group could help me answer a question...
Not too long ago, I was sitting at the dinner table with my wife and son playing a geography game (some what like Wordle) and the state in question was Wyoming. This instantly unlocked a memory of a photo in an issue of National Geographic that I would love to find again. The issue was most likely mid to late 1980s, the photo in question was a portrait of a rather burly gentleman taken at what I remember to be some kind of mining or industrial site. But what I clearly remember is his t-shirt - it was yellow and said in black lettering "whereinthehellis Gillette, Wyoming". My hopes in signing up for this site, writing this post, and humbly asking for someone's assistance is that I can finally lay eyes on this photo once more. Any help in finding my white whale would be appreciated - my family is starting to call me Ahab.
An introduction, a little backstory, and a request for help
by Andrew
May 11
Hello all,
My name is Andrew. i grew up in Central Alabama in the 1980s and 90s participating in all of your usual teenage boy activities - Boy Scouts, fishing, sports, and once old enough perfume and gasoline (not necessarily in that order). But I also spent quite a lot of time in books and magazines. I read my World Book encyclopedia for fun, had a full set of the "Growing Up With Science" series, subscribed to Popular Mechanics and Popular Science. But most of all, I cherished my dad's subscription to National Geographic. He had subscribed at least since the early 70s and had all of his issues in a bookcase in our living room. I recall reading issues in the 80s over and over and over - the exploits of Robert Ballard in finding the Titanic, the eruption of Mount St. Helens, a divided Berlin, and of course the famous "Afghan Girl" photo.
So all this to say, National Geographic magazine holds a special place in my memories. So that leads me to here and now with the hopes that this group could help me answer a question...
Not too long ago, I was sitting at the dinner table with my wife and son playing a geography game (some what like Wordle) and the state in question was Wyoming. This instantly unlocked a memory of a photo in an issue of National Geographic that I would love to find again. The issue was most likely mid to late 1980s, the photo in question was a portrait of a rather burly gentleman taken at what I remember to be some kind of mining or industrial site. But what I clearly remember is his t-shirt - it was yellow and said in black lettering "whereinthehellis Gillette, Wyoming". My hopes in signing up for this site, writing this post, and humbly asking for someone's assistance is that I can finally lay eyes on this photo once more. Any help in finding my white whale would be appreciated - my family is starting to call me Ahab.
Andrew M.
Birmingham, AL