REX?
Seriously, though. I think often about convenience and my uneasyish relationship to it. I think about how my (and your) existence, wherever we happen to be, is pretty much predicated on convenience: the expectation of it, the emphasis on it, its perceived simplicity and ease, the actual need for it in many cases alongside our feelings of entitlement to it regardless of whether we need it or not, and the reaction to even the suggestion of potential inconvenience1.
Who defines what is convenient and what is not? Who benefits most from certain conveniences? What happens when we get so acclimated to convenience that we considering settling for whatever, this is fine rather than deal with the inconvenience of doing something the way it used to be done? An example:
Not the same thing, but sort of: A few years ago I became familiar with the word “frictionless” as it pertains to user experience - presumably any kind of user, any kind of experience. I realize that most of the time when people are talking about a frictionless user experience, they’re talking about commerce, about making the experience of buying something so smooth that the user’s reaction to the power of that ease is not unlike that of Han Solo’s in The Last Jedi when he gets to try out Chewbacca’s bowcaster. It’s how I felt the first time I bought something online with one click. Maybe it’s how people felt the first time they stepped in front of a door and it opened, like magic.
I like this thing.2
Of course, “frictionless” is not a universal concept and often requires an amazing amount of pre-set structure to function. I usually pay for parking using my phone, but get aggravated when I see parking meters that no longer take actual money because, I don’t know, sometimes I want to use pocket change. I N C O N V E N I E N T. Flea might agree:
The fall garden, such as it is, has been mostly planted (except for the garlic, which goes into the ground in late October or early November). Nothing too ambitious this fall - just some kale, some lettuce, some spinach. I threw in some 4 year-old watermelon radish seeds with low expectations, but they’re germinating and I’m quite excited about it.
I’m still scratching my head trying to understand how so many of my plants in the summer garden basically failed to thrive after a strong spring as seedlings. I mean, they grew, but the plants were not so robust and yields were tiny. It could be that the unexpected heat in May was not ideal for teenage seedlings that had been hardened off but were perhaps not yet prepared for late spring’s Total Blast Furnace. It could also be that the plants were a bit stressed by the constant digging and pawing and chewing of our local squirrel and rabbit population, not to mention the inquiries of the raccoons and opossums we know visit that part of the yard every night. [I know they visit because we have cameras out back like a couple of weirdos.] I don’t love fences, but with so many creatures nosing around 24-7 and me not feeling so great about my summer gardening attempt, Jim and I built one. We’re facilitating a good outcome. Creating the conditions. Setting ourselves up up for success. Etc.
I’m currently re-reading two books written before the ubiquity of the internet and smartphones: 1979’s Desolate Angel: Jack Kerouac, the Beat Generation, and America by Dennis McNally, and 1998’s Book of Shadows by Phyllis Curott. Friends, it is so fascinating to read books that are contemporary-ish and largely set in NYC but where digital life is not a thing and people are just hanging out and doing life completely phoneless, earbudsless, and smart watchless. They’re going to libraries and museums for hours (hours!), meeting up with friends for hangs completely devoid of selfies, finding their way around organically, writing letters, hitchhiking, sitting alone in the park with a book, eating dinner, paying wholesome attention.
I mentioned this reading experience I was having to someone last week and they mentioned that the NYT had very recently published “The Rise of Tech, According to Sandra Bullock Movies”. Yes! Not the same thing, but sort of!
There’s also, finally, this, which I just saw today:
Wheels of boredom
Find a way to amuse yourself
Seen and done everything
So make a turn for your mental health
You came looking for someone
That’s the cure
But as soon as you get what you want it’s not fun anymore3
Sometime in the late 2000s, back when I ran our local farmers market (operated by the City of Urbana, IL), I somewhat naively asked a few of the anchor vendors what they thought of discouraging plastic bag use by their customers and instead incentivizing and otherwise encouraging other bag behavior. Not a popular topic; I never raised the question again. I did see more people re-using plastic bags this summer while hustling peaches.
I remember watching this movie in the theatre and being struck by Harrison Ford’s delivery of that line - like a Valley Girl, but make it Space Boomer.
The Soundtrack of Our Lives, “Wheels of Boredom”, Origin Vol. 1, 2005.