Welcome to “The Geography of Nowhere” the personal website of Dave Hockett. This site is a complete wreck, and probably always will be.  Why?  Well blame the ever evolving methods to actually create a webpage and my general lack of any coding knowledge.  The first version of this site began in the fall of 1996, while I was a student at Northwest Missouri State University as just a page of links to a few of my favorite websites for a required computer course and has since evolved into what you see today.  Like any project I’ve ever worked on this one I’ve added and added and added to until it becomes an endless labyrinth that defies repair and any logic.  By all means, come on in, I just can’t guarantee you’ll make it out.  Please feel free to contact me at dhockett@gmail.com.

If you’re really curious what I’ve been up to you can check out my blog through myspace.com.  It gets updated every couple of weeks or whenever I have a few moments to spare between work, family and sleep with just thoughts on the many random happenings to the family or just my opinions about current events and people. 

Please make sure to check out some of the other pages I’ve been part of over the last 13 or so years, most are just on subjects I personally enjoy and didn’t feel there was a great web presence out there so I put them together and posted them online.

A LITTLE ABOUT ME…

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I’m originally from Greenfield, Iowa and graduated from Greenfield High School in 1993.  I spent two years at North Iowa Area Community College (NIACC) then transferred to Northwest Missouri State University (NWMSU) in Maryville.  I got my Bachelor of Science in Geography with a minor in Economic Development.  While at NWMSU I was an active member in the Delta Nu Chapter of Tau Kappa Epsilon (TKE) Fraternity in 1998 then attended Minnesota State University, Mankato and received my Master of Arts in Urban Planning in May 2000.  I started work for the City of Marion, Iowa in July 2000 as the Assistant Planner and in 2004 was promoted to Assistant Planning and Development Director where I remain today.

I married Lori in September of 2000 and in April 2002 our son Jayden was born followed by Caleb in April 2005.  My days now are filled with work and the kids; they keep both keep me very busy.

In my free time (not with the family or at work) l like to take short road trips and explore rural Iowa along with the hundreds of small towns, explore cemeteries, mess with this and the other web pages I have as well as follow both state and national politics.

WATERSTOCK ROCK – Great Iowa 80s Music Festival held annually in June at Waterworks Park south of Downtown Des Moines Featuring some of the greatest artists to come out of the 80s.  Previous bands include Poison, Cinderella, Vince Neil, Warrant and Jackyl.  Page includes regular updates between early February and late July of every year and includes pictures, videos and reviews from all previous events.  I’ve also expanded this site to cover KGGO’s annual Summer Jam concert.

FAVORITE WEB LINKS…

IMAGES OF IOWA – I always enjoyed wondering Iowa’s thousands of miles of county roads and exploring all the small communities that seem to rise out of the fields every five miles or so.  I’m always taking pictures of something in these towns and thought it would be nice to post my pictures and experiences for everyone else to enjoy.

IOWA’S ENDANGERED PROPERTIES – Every year the Iowa Historic Preservation Alliance (IHPA) publishes a list of Iowa’s most threatened architecturally and or historically significant properties at the hands of developers, abandonment or just owner neglect.  The site that the IHPA has put together does not provide a lot of detail with previous years nominations or keep us up-to-date on the ever change status of these properties so I thought I would do it with my own page.

HISTORIC MARION IOWA – I put this page together with the Marion Historic Preservation Commission (MHPC) as a way to help promote Marion’s unique and very well preserved historic properties.  We’ve created a virtual tour of the two nationally listed historic districts, and the Original Central Business District.

MARION IOWA… THEN & NOW (Coming Soon) a collection of photographs from Marion, Iowa showing the changes to the community over the last 100+ years.  A Greenfield Iowa… Then & Now Page (Coming Soon) is currently being worked on and should be available sometime in the summer of 2008

IOWA’S DRIVE-IN THEATRES (Coming Soon) – A collection of photographs both historic and current of the 50+ Drive-In Theatres that use to dot the Iowa Landscape.  I’ve also tried to include histories of the individual theatres when they are available.  Should be completed sometime in the Summer of 2008.