The suburbs considered as ...
... the Backrooms: https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2022/1/13/american-suburbs-are-a-horror-movie-and-were-the-protagonists
A terrific essay in which the author -- who lives in the Austin suburbs -- considers why she feels creeped-out and uncertain when walking through her suburb at night to a grocery store a few miles away ...
... and realizes it's because it feels precisely like one of the "liminal spaces" people share online
It's a great essay, but what hilariously nails it are the three photos she posts halfway down the essay
Read the captions
the caption of the fifth photo really seals the deal lololol
(Of course, none of this would come as a surprise to John Carpenter 😂 ...
... or the directors of the original X-files series)
I spent the first third of my life living in a Toronto suburb
we had some commercial strips that were more densely built than this ...
... but also some pretty ghostly parts.I transited so many weird interstitial spaces like this on my bike
@clive @Voline
+1 to the essay.
I once worked a software contract out in the western suburbs of the Twin Cities, and one day decided to take a weekday afternoon walk through the nearby residential neighborhood.
It was like The Day After. Dead. Neat houses, trimmed lawns, and not a single other living animal.
It wasn’t until I finally saw another person that I realized I’d started tensing my shoulders and taking shallow breaths. Completely creeped me out.
Yep, total Blue Velvet territory
there is that too
yeah fair enough, that was a super terrible moment
but I know you mean about living right downtown and how the density made one feel safe!
I had a related experience when I was cycling across the country — I felt most exposed, even as a middle-aged guy, when I was in the middle of nowhere
there was no one around for dozens of miles in either direction
It something went wrong, I was just incredibly isolated
@clive Yep.
But without question, I’d prefer the bear.
Yeah get out and “us” both play with the creepiness of exurban areas
I hadn’t seen that video though, thank you for it!
@clive grew up in Middle Of Nowhere Lite. 30 minute drive from the nearest supermarket, well outside of suburbia. Never felt like this except when something actually dangerous cropped up like a snake or a dog. Wandered around in the woods for hours every day.
Isolation isn't scary, people are.
Christian James Wengert
Clive Thompson
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