I remember when, back in the day, Penn Square was mostly one story high, had no roof, and you could wander about John A. Brown and the smaller shops – or Montgomery Ward, if you had an appetite for crap – at leisure.
Today... well, it's a lot bigger and busier than it was back before Erika West was born.
But good lord.
It gets harder and harder for me to handle the crowds and the aural and visual noise of malls in general. I rarely set foot in one anymore.
It's not just the crowds - it's also those damn kiosks in the centers of the walkways – the ones selling the cellular moon jewel radio controlled helicopter doodads. They're just a blur to me. One little hut on wheels after another with glittery cultural detritus hanging from them. It might as well be the midway at the state fair.
I didn't find what I was looking for at the mall, by the way, and ended up ordering it over the web.
After the mall trip, I went over to a chain place for lunch. It was packed at 2 p.m. and I ate at the bar. Same thing: noise everywhere. People talking, TVs cranked up and tuned to ESPNs 1 through 110. I actually tried listening to one of the TV sets, and I kept getting fragments of words. I don't know if there was something wrong with the sound or if I was just on the brink of a psychotic episode and my brain was refusing to accept any more input.
This is why my bubble keeps getting smaller and smaller... eventually, I fear, to encompass only a small rectangle whose corners are my bed, my computer, my toilet and my refrigerator.
Actually, I could move the computer to the bathroom and shrink that down to a triangle.
It's too damn crazy out there.
11 comments:
It is. I went to the mall today and couldn't find what I wanted and then after selecting a substitute it took about 20 minutes to get rung up and I just kept thinking, it would be so much faster and easier to do this online.
I have a great many of the same reactions to the mall as you do, even when I'm just sneaking in the side door to catch a flick. However, where it makes you want to hide, I feel the urge to dive in every once in awhile just to see the sideshow. I sit in awe and wonder: what are these people doing here? what does this mean? why is the biggest structure in the city a shopping mall? I also go micro: what are these two mall walkers think they will accomplish pushing babies on wheels? young love ... disgusting, isn't it? bored guy, wife inside one of the stores?
Why do I keep trying to be like these people in so many ways? Why do I envy their thoughtless pursuits? ( because it IS all about me, in the end)
I'm thinking it's the difference between HAVING to go to the mall and GETTING to go to the mall...except, if you HAVE to go, why ruin it? Might as well have some fun ridiculing the hoi poloi and feeling all superior.
Yeah, that's the ticket.
I'm not deep enough for existential nausea/angst over the mall.
blogblah!!!
I hate the mall.
The only enticing shops for me include the clearance rack at Ann Taylor and the Apple store.
And still, I don't buy anything.
I bet Eden could make that triangle even better.
ukepqlmk
I think Eden's Triangle is probably a thing of wonder.
One time I wrote a poem at the mall. It's called "AT the Mall on December 20." I was just sitting there looking at the people, having my own psychotic episode. It's a good place for those.
The Poem
To which I will only add:
Read the poem.
Not to ruin everybody's downer or anything but in fairness, I think the local bazaar or market was always a big part of city or country life. This is no different.
We have a couple of open air farmers' markets in our area. I tend to shy away from them out of fear of direct exposure to fresh vegetables, but the overall sensory experience is much more palatable there.
I don't know if the malls have gotten worse or my threshold has diminished, but the noise - and especially the reverberating sounds in an enclosed mall - seem much more unpleasant than they were just ten years ago. And the congestion is phenomenal. I spent probably fifteen minutes just navigating the parking lot.
We had a conversation at the Red Cup this morning about 'what's wrong' with our town, and the fault-finding focused entirely on shopping experience: the particular store chains that haven't come here.
Somehow I just can't get excited about that. Everything I want to buy (except cotton mock turtlenecks) I can find somewhere right now; all I could get from some new outlet are the same products packaged somewhat differently.
One thing I like about the Paseo/Classen area is that it's almost like a small town located within the city. Traffic is relatively sparse, noise isn't so bad and the chain stores are all out toward the suburbs.
Yesterday I decided my mother was right, and the only way to go shopping is to be there when the stores open.
I am always amazed at how crowded the parking lot is at the local mall, every day of the week, almost any time of the day.
Goodwill, Salvation Army, EARC, Thrift Town - check 'em out.
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