-Isms: Views on life in rural America

Consider it love at first sight.

She was sleek and fast, a force to be reckoned with.

She was a 1967 Mustang, with a metallic teal blue paint job, woodgrain dash trim, black leather seats and the iconic Ford Mustang logo embedded in the grill.

My then-boyfriend purchased her about a year after we began dating, an upgrade from the two-door Impala he drove on our first date.

I learned how to drive four on the floor in this beauty. On weekend afternoons, we’d head west, on the research center road. There’s a particular art to releasing the clutch and accelerating. Once in motion, he’d shout, “Clu...