Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Lower East Side at Night Nov 2008

How unlike mall shopping in flyover country shopping in the Lower East Side at night is. There is an intensity, an animation, a bustle here that is quite different, When Adam and Geraldine moved to Pennsylvania, I took Geraldine to a mall to pick up necessary supplies (like soap, shower curtains, etc.). The wide open isles were speckled with shoppers who looked somehow different. White bread people. Men wearing shorts and baseball caps. Everyone marching with a singular lack of animation as if they were caught up in a sort of rapture of the deep. I was struck by how much this all seemed like a scene from Dawn of the Dead. I think I really creeped Geraldine out when In whispers, I described the other shoppers as being zombies from Dawn of the Dead. In the misty depths far ahead of us was a lone customer service person at a counter who viewed us with an intense, expectant stare. I whispered to Geraldine that I thought he suspected that we were live human beings, not zombies and that when he confirmed his suspicions that we were live human beings, that he was going to direct the zombie shoppers to tear us limb from limb. I told Geraldine when that time came, I was going to throw the crock pot in his face to distract him and that she should pick that moment to bolt out of there.

If they were going to film a remake of Dawn of the Dead on the Lower East Side, they would have to film the Dead lurching at a quick step with a far greater look of determination than the Dead of the original movie. "Get out of my way, motherfucker. I saw that live dude first!" "Gnaaarrl"

While walking down the Bowery, I was stopped by a Chinese gentleman who asked directions to Canal Street in somewhat broken English. i gave him his directions but wondered why he stopped me, the single Caucasian visible, for directions?

Lower East Side at Night Nov 2008

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