threads threads threads

as most always, my head is currently going in a thousand different directions. if i stop for a minute, i have to ask myself "what value is there in doing this? my assumption is that if i follow all these threads of thought toward an end, then i will be smarter, more informed, enlightened somehow. ????

anyway, one of my current threads is this:

the world as path to our living room vs. our living room opening into the world.

here's what inspired this: mary and aaron's new blog entry mentions the myopia of cookeville, tn's council members. (i would provide the link within the writing, but i'm too lazy. do it yourself if you care.) the story is that currently a business called "cotton-eyed joes," a country dance club, inhabits an old-school "big box" building in downtown cookeville. next door to this business is a park. some of the city wants to expand the park--right over top of said bigbox. this is a pleasant move. more greenspace, the bigbox is ugly anyway, etc. you guys know the story.

pondering the city council's difficulty in making this decision showed me the edges of some unravelled cloth. why the resistance? are city council members usually just people that are trying to make as much money as they can on property? is my need for aesthetic beauty more important than someone else's not giving a damn? is this concept of "not giving a damn" an act of viewing interactions with the world as just "necessity?"

that's not all of it, but it sets up what i want to say. see, what i came up with was this (synecdotally speaking): when i go to the grocery store, i want to buy an orange that is aesthetically arranged with its brother. when a park-opposing council member goes to the grocery store, they just want an orange, quick!

what i recognized as i followed this trail of oranges, however, was that the destination for both these oranges is the same: a haven. a pleasing place. a home. whether one lives in a hole in the ground, or a mansion, my guess is that the habitant has tried, in some way, to make both hole or mansion as pleasing a place as possible for orange-eating.

now, here's where i get very essentializing about the mansion dweller (the hole-dweller is a different blog post): the mansion dweller lives on an acre plot in the suburbs. the house is in the middle or toward the back. they have a security system or even a safe room. they view themselves as having earned what they have. the self-made man. in other words, the world leads to their living room.

the opposite of this would be someone that keeps their own living room in order because it benefits the nieghborhood. their worldview faces outward...


i'm losing it, but you may know where i'm going. one person views public space as a store house from which they grab what they need and get the hell outta there. another views public space as a communal savings account to which they make contributions.

ehhhh...it's gone. i'll probably regret posting this. i need to eat anyway. talk to ya later.