Very revealing, frank, honest and well written! Growing up in suburbia involves being able to fit in and standout at the same time. Definitely challenging!
As usual, this is so well written and so much resonates resoundingly. As a city kid, not a suburbanite (though I really wanted to be—it seemed a swimming pool and basement -filled dreamland. I loved basements and yeah, was always a weird kid) I remember the odd balancing act of trying to fit in and be myself. Impossible poles for me if done wholeheartedly. And as an adult, I was profoundly baffled by that tepid A&S Mall, which had the worst attributes of city and suburbs—crowded, dirty, trashy merch, no bookstore (the only reasons I tolerated a mall as a kid were bookstores, toy stores, record stores and the head shops I only partly understood. Oh and the one you mentioned: the Spencer’s Gifts and their ilk with their peculiar combo of the cute and the pervyily misogynistic.) ((And the $2,000 massage chairs at the Sharper Image, until they inevitably kicked you out of them.))
I feel as if neighborhoods in NYC are open air malls. And it wasn't always that way. Cue the old man voice. When I was a kid . . . I recall walking NYC without chain stores.
There certainly are a lot more chain stores in NYC, and I’m not a fan of that. But it’s never going to be the same sort of the insular suburban environment.
Very revealing, frank, honest and well written! Growing up in suburbia involves being able to fit in and standout at the same time. Definitely challenging!
As usual, this is so well written and so much resonates resoundingly. As a city kid, not a suburbanite (though I really wanted to be—it seemed a swimming pool and basement -filled dreamland. I loved basements and yeah, was always a weird kid) I remember the odd balancing act of trying to fit in and be myself. Impossible poles for me if done wholeheartedly. And as an adult, I was profoundly baffled by that tepid A&S Mall, which had the worst attributes of city and suburbs—crowded, dirty, trashy merch, no bookstore (the only reasons I tolerated a mall as a kid were bookstores, toy stores, record stores and the head shops I only partly understood. Oh and the one you mentioned: the Spencer’s Gifts and their ilk with their peculiar combo of the cute and the pervyily misogynistic.) ((And the $2,000 massage chairs at the Sharper Image, until they inevitably kicked you out of them.))
Oh I forgot about that pervy element!
Betsy... Soooooo GRATEFUL to get to know you better. Our on set relationship just changed.
Ha! Thanks Mel.
I feel as if neighborhoods in NYC are open air malls. And it wasn't always that way. Cue the old man voice. When I was a kid . . . I recall walking NYC without chain stores.
There certainly are a lot more chain stores in NYC, and I’m not a fan of that. But it’s never going to be the same sort of the insular suburban environment.