waiting for a flight
A few observations (blogged from the Minneapolis/St. Paul airport):
- I’m sitting in a food court area. There’s a nice looking food counter called The Good Earth, which appears to sell yummy sounding wholesome sandwiches, yogurt smoothies, salads, etc. To its right is a food counter of a bakery selling fresh-made, interesting-sounding sandwiches. These counters have no customers in line. The next counter is an A&W “All American Food” counter selling horrid-looking burgers, chili dogs, and fried cheese curds. Fried cheese curds?! A&W has a huge line that never goes slack, a good 15 customers at any given time. The other two counters have far more appetizing food and yet the only restaurant with a constant stream of people in line is for totally tacky fast food. Why? Are people really so willing to save a buck that they’ll eat such crap food for lunch or are fried cheese curds and chicken strips really more appetizing than a turkey and swiss on whole grain bread with soup? It makes me feel so alien; I don’t understand the majority’s preferences. Is this a midwestern thing? (Help me out here, I haven’t lived here in so long.)
- The Portland airport has free wi-fi; Minneapolis makes you pay $7 for a session. Rat bastards.
- My friend and former Sociology professor, Rowan, gave me a simple and older-looking wooden “No War” button for my birthday earlier this year. I’ve recently been wearing it pinned to my jacket and a few days ago at the counter of a convenience store, an employee asked me indignantly, “You’re for no war?” I replied without a second though, “Yeah, isn’t anyone?” He gave me such a funny look. This morning on the airplane, I received four compliments on it, including one from a fellow who remarked that he collected buttons and that it was a “vintage” (read: 60’s) design. I replied, “Well, it’s an old statement”. He added, “And a good one”. I look forward to wearing it around Fairfield.
- I hesitate to say I love my iBook, because I think it’s weird to speak of “loving” objects that aren’t alive. Let’s just say I really appreciate owning my iBook and am enjoying the hell out of it. I have no complaints and it’s light as a feather to boot. (It’s a 12″ iBook, by the way.) I have a 60G hard drive; I loaded it with photos, including scanned-in childhood pics, and all of my music and I look forward to sharing all of it with Mom. She’s super open to new-to-her music and usually likes what I play her. I packed a bunch of blank CDs to burn her some mix CDs straight outta the iBook.
- The newsstand/bookstore across from where I’m sitting has a whole display row of Time magazine featuring Dubya as “Person of the Year”. Look at that illustration! The expression reeks of that whole false earnestness that Christian conservatives love: “It’s hard work, but at least God is guiding my every decision”. Liberal media, my ass. If I had a subscription to Time, which of course I don’t, I would cancel it immediately. I mean, c’mon, this is a man who refuses to even negotiate with himself.
- You know, you can tell hipster techie types by the shape of their eyeglass frames. It’s true, the frames are a giveaway.
Cleis said,
December 23, 2004 @ 6:59 am
1. Your iBook’s not alive? I think you got a dud. Send it back. (I’m so glad you’re enjoying it.)
2. I think the illustration of Bush on Time makes him look a lot like Jerry Falwell. But the caption - “American Revolutionary”? Dear God/dess.
3. I love the stories about your button. I need a button.
4. I don’t know what to say about the food, except that I, too, am disheartened. I don’t even know whether to judge it as a Midwestern phenomenon; I grew up there (though waaaay east of you), and I visit yearly, but I haven’t lived there in a decade. I do know that when Phaon and I go home, if we want to eat out and eat good food, we go to this tucked-away-in-a-strip-mall Lebanese place (with an innocuous name like “Pita Corner”) for delicious, fresh food made by an immigrant family. Otherwise, our options are bland chain restaurants. Cheese curds are definitely a “we border with Wisconsin” sort of food. I don’t think an Arby’s back east (or out west) would carry them.
Thanks for spending the $7 to blog. I enjoyed it!
Cleis said,
December 23, 2004 @ 7:07 am
Oh, and:
I didn’t know one could fry cheese curds.
I remind myself that Hitler was also Time’s Man of the Year. That is not to compare Bush to Hitler. (Although by Bush’s own moral categories - you’re either good or you’re evil; for us or against us - there is a fair comparison to be made; my own moral categories are more, shall we say, subtle.) Rather, “Man of the Year” doesn’t designate a good person, merely a powerful and influential person. (I know you know this.) But that doesn’t excuse the caption. While Bush may be a revolutionary in the sense of his willingness to trash our country’s best values and social movements, the evocation of the “founding fathers” is deliberate and, to me, painful.
Medley said,
December 24, 2004 @ 2:24 am
I do have a subscription to Time and I am going to cancel it. It’s not just the Bush MOTY, but other things too. Enough’s enough. (Btw, some of the other picture captions they use inside are as bad as “American revolutionary” - I can’t bring myself to read the article, but I did flip through it..)
I’ve long felt that I should get at least one of the ‘mainstream’ American weeklies — just so I know what’s considered worthy of coverage in a mainstream American newsmagazine, so I think we’re going to switch to Newsweek. I’m still mad at Newsweek for employing Isikoff, but I think they’re better than Time lately. For now, I’ll continue to get the Economist and the Nation as my two other weeklies.
My theory about the fast food is that it’s the consistency, not the price. When travelling, you never know whether one of the ‘healthier’ usually local places is going to actually be good or not. With a fast food chain, you may know it’s crap, but at least you’ll know what kind of crap it is. I’ve been guilty of it myself, both on plane trips and long road trips.
Kath said,
December 26, 2004 @ 6:45 am
As far as the fast food issue, I agree with Medly and also feel that people eat what they like…plain and simple. And while you and I may not go for the fast greasy food (I will say that you had me drooling at your description of wholesome sandwiches and smoothies!) a lot of people wouldn’t choose healthier fare if it were free.
It comes down to what makes you happy and what makes you feel good, and yes, what you can afford.
Hope you have a WONDERFUL time with your Mom, Emily!