blog@cliffdweller

Yesterday, I snapped this picture in the mall. When I uploaded it to my Flickr acount, I named it America on the spur of the moment.

I don't know why, but it's like I'm on mission to take everyday snapshots around town and name them things that make me think a bit. This one rang a little too true for me though.

What does it bring up?

It digs up thoughts for me about isolation and over-protectiveness. I mean, here's an empty store, the doors locked and the curtains drawn.

I presume the curtains are drawn in case someone rents it out and they start to develop a store inside so they can keep it a secret until they make the big splash.

Why is springing surprises on people at the right instant important? I don't know. Ask Apple, Inc.

But the irony for me is not the curtains. It's that the place is empty and yet it still has the shoplifting alarm thingy poised to catch anyone who dares to steal anything from the empty store.

Now I can come up with 50 or more reasons why it looks like this, why those alarms are still there. But that's not the point.

The point for me is simply stated, but very complex: our society values stealth and security over simplicity and truth. The truth here is that the store is empty. There's a recession going on and it went out of business. And now the Mall Management is hiding nothing, literally, so we can't see there's nothing, and they'll punish us if we try to steal nothing.

For some unknown reason that reminded me of America. Hence the name of the photo.

Let's all do nothing but be sure that we don't share the glorious secret with anyone, and let's punish anyone who tries to steal it from us!

I know I sound cynical, but I am kind of just that today.

Sitting on the front porch at The Farm tonight with Tim, I was reminded of growing up in Texas. It's a slower pace than I'm used to, but quite relaxing. I wasn't really sure what reminded me of Texas, though.

We can see giant snow capped volcanos from here (yes, there's still a little snow on both Mt Hood and Mt St Helens), and even though it's late June we don't even have air conditioning on in the house.

So I'm sitting there trying to figure out if it's the laid back-ness of it all, or if I'm gonna get any ice cream, or what exactly is so Texas-like about the moment.

Then I swat a mosquito and it all comes racing home, just like that scene near the end of Ratatouille where the food critic sits down to eat. It's the bugs. I think I may have donated around a pint to the local economy while we were sitting out there.

Still, it was pleasant. And I was with my partner just enjoying the Oregon-ness of it all. So I guess it's worth a few bugs here and there for moments like these.