Saturday, January 31, 2004
The Ubiquitous America
I have just returned from a quest to replace my cell phone (in progress) and find Jesus Christ: Vampire Hunter (failed). When we stopped by the local Blockbuster, a girl who had entered Antioch with me was working there. When she entered, I thought she was the prettiest girl in our class. Ready smile, a few interesting piercings, a dorky style that approached gothness, she had the dork-hot going on.
She had scars in her eyebrow where the ring had been. There was no style to her, thanks to the Blockbuster uniform. Smile? No smile, she was getting a headache. Maybe it was just the headache, or maybe it was that she had, after dropping out of school, spent the last two years trying to get by in the middle of nowhere, Ohio. And Blockbuster was the best that could be done. And it had killed her.
When I left, I wondered if I had not known her, if I would have seen anything interesting in her. She fit in. This was not the laughing girl who had devestated Antioch parties with her french maid outfit. This was middle America.
I have just returned from a quest to replace my cell phone (in progress) and find Jesus Christ: Vampire Hunter (failed). When we stopped by the local Blockbuster, a girl who had entered Antioch with me was working there. When she entered, I thought she was the prettiest girl in our class. Ready smile, a few interesting piercings, a dorky style that approached gothness, she had the dork-hot going on.
She had scars in her eyebrow where the ring had been. There was no style to her, thanks to the Blockbuster uniform. Smile? No smile, she was getting a headache. Maybe it was just the headache, or maybe it was that she had, after dropping out of school, spent the last two years trying to get by in the middle of nowhere, Ohio. And Blockbuster was the best that could be done. And it had killed her.
When I left, I wondered if I had not known her, if I would have seen anything interesting in her. She fit in. This was not the laughing girl who had devestated Antioch parties with her french maid outfit. This was middle America.