empty bar wren land is ripe with opportunity and danger. it doesn't translate into philosophical conviction. those who see white as a distinctively western justice point to his physical vigor, self reliance and blunt talk, extraordinary work ethic and his unadorned modesty. i would agree he bore all those traits, not because he grew up in the shadows of the mountains and the range. indeed, i think he could have been the same man had he grown up when he did in audubon, iowa, where his uncle lived and practiced law. the two little towns shared similar profiles in the 1930s, small, rural, agriculturally dependent and impoverished. the whites who remained in audubon when byron's and sam's parents moved west, manifested the same traits described to the justices themselves. time and locale, not the 105th meridian shaped the brothers white. byron white always encouraged his children, his clerks, others to get as much experience as you can. and he meant that each new challenge would help to shape and reshape one's views. today, the pragmatic and mo