Various regions of the USA have distinctly different cultures, reflected in their architecture, regional accents, food, religions, and political views. (There is a reason why the map of the United States, now mostly all red, has been renamed "Dumbfuckistan" with all its tribal factions.)
When planning a trip to the Boston area to visit family, it never dawned on me that I was venturing into an entirely different milieu than Southern California until the ride from the airport to a lovely New England town.
Hundred-plus year old colonial houses lined the quaint suburb, and in a pre-Revolutionary War tradition, a single light in every window. In the olden days, these must have been candles in every window, perhaps to scare off the devil or provide a welcoming light to wayfarers. In 2014, they are little electric lights (hopefully LED) that have more than likely lost their original meaning but provide a stunningly peaceful ambiance.
A nippy walk through the winding roads of a seaside town provided this visitor the feeling of being a tourist in an enchanting land. Although I had been here before visiting family, the uniquely different atmosphere from the lower west coast gave me renewed joy.
Later in the evening when the little ones and the adults had turned in, the night owl was still hooting and hollering that she wanted to absorb still more of awake time. With no one to stop me, CNN was the station of choice.
As I watched CNN, lying on a couch with my feet propped up on pillows, the charm of a new culture fell away and I might as well have been in my SoCal living room -- the ubiquitous couch and television news amalgamized anything unique or beautiful into one world of similarity. Not Oneness, not global consciousness, but a bland pablum eaten by everyone with a TV and antennae.
Pick your poison. It might as well have been Fox News or some other local TV station drivel. In the meantime, the only solution, at least in my universe, is to download the golden light so that if we are to be "one," we are One.
When planning a trip to the Boston area to visit family, it never dawned on me that I was venturing into an entirely different milieu than Southern California until the ride from the airport to a lovely New England town.
Hundred-plus year old colonial houses lined the quaint suburb, and in a pre-Revolutionary War tradition, a single light in every window. In the olden days, these must have been candles in every window, perhaps to scare off the devil or provide a welcoming light to wayfarers. In 2014, they are little electric lights (hopefully LED) that have more than likely lost their original meaning but provide a stunningly peaceful ambiance.
A nippy walk through the winding roads of a seaside town provided this visitor the feeling of being a tourist in an enchanting land. Although I had been here before visiting family, the uniquely different atmosphere from the lower west coast gave me renewed joy.
Later in the evening when the little ones and the adults had turned in, the night owl was still hooting and hollering that she wanted to absorb still more of awake time. With no one to stop me, CNN was the station of choice.
As I watched CNN, lying on a couch with my feet propped up on pillows, the charm of a new culture fell away and I might as well have been in my SoCal living room -- the ubiquitous couch and television news amalgamized anything unique or beautiful into one world of similarity. Not Oneness, not global consciousness, but a bland pablum eaten by everyone with a TV and antennae.
Pick your poison. It might as well have been Fox News or some other local TV station drivel. In the meantime, the only solution, at least in my universe, is to download the golden light so that if we are to be "one," we are One.
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