One of the concepts I've always toyed with is the social media sites on the Internet are filling America's need for "real-life" socialization. I've always considered "Greensboring" as sort of a "town-hall" so to speak, but it's that lack of socializing, or almost a social isolation in America that has me pondering what's so different, and whether or not it's good or not.
It was easy for me to argue this seeing the British past-time of joining friends at pubs, drinking & socializing, in comparison to American bars, typically portrayed as seedy, or for the emotionally pained. In fact in the days of the past when I actually went to American dance clubs and bars, the environment was much more one of "dating" then socialization. That, and well some horrid line dancing experiment which almost landed yours truly in the arms of a 500lb cowboy named "Bubba".
So the other night I was watching my HDTV channel for PBS and they have this wonderful cooking show where the guy (Rick Bayless) shows up in the Yucatan and then ends up cooking Mexican food. In one episode he talks about how in Merida then have a nightly dance in the main square and a weekly "snack-a-thon" that involves everyone eating and drinking, and socializing.
Another place I've always thought about social aspects of food, and it's people is Italy. If memory serves me right, dinner in Italy is typically served late from around 8pm-10pm, and because of this it's common for people to "snack" leading up to dinner, and to socialize with one another. I can easily imagine what this is like, as it sounds a lot like the Holiday's at a relatives, except they do it everyday.
I'm not sure what, if anything this has to do with anything. Somehow though I wonder, if something isn't lost with America's fascination with the drive-thru, and it's suburbia housing tracts where we no longer have to see our neighbor let alone, dance, sing, play, or talk to them. I occasionally go back to Ohio where
I visit Tony Packo's. It's a "pub", restaurant, etc. which when I was very little had the bands, dancing and singing in the corner. My family would tell me stories about the place as we sat and socialized there on our visits, often running into friends... it's a little more kitschy today and while there is an essence of it's originality, something has been lost, just as it has everywhere in America... it's not so much that the building, food, or beverages have change, but it's the people. We're too afraid to risk showing a bit humanity, we're either out of time, too busy or too social insecure to become apart of a collective experience. Isn't it that, the experiences that we journey through with other people that are what we really remember, perhaps what really matters at the end of the day?
May the fetus you save be gay.
