The bubble has popped, and I wake up in the real world.
I rarely stay awake on an international flight, but recently I was flying over the Caribbean sea, deep in thought. I wondered if the clouds above me held some mystical realm where I could go, sit, meditate and play Nintendo Wii with cherubs wearing Mario Brothers t-shirts. But all I came up with was the quiet reflection that being in a massive work of art (i.e a plane) can give you. One hundred years ago, if you told a person that an object the size of several houses would be able to fly thousands of miles across the sea, while having all the amenities of a house, such as a bathroom, lights, carpeting and refrigerators to store food (and people), they would probably burn you on a stake.
When I fly, I am always appreciative of modern technology, even if flying of late gives me headaches.
However, the first thing I noticed when I was in the plane, was the girl sitting beside me. She was a short, very overweight caucasian girl. It was then it dawned upon me, that I had not been this close to a fat person in four weeks.
After I arrived back into the United States, it was that I could see that America truly IS a fat country. I'm not sure why this dawns upon me now of all times, simply because I never try to compare Jamaica and America; they are too different, one is too small and one is too big, and the culture is just skewed on both sides. Jamaica has post-colonial issues, America has post-colonial, racist, immigrant and whatever else kind of issue you can name as well.
But I can see that Americans are "fatter" people. In my blurry Christmas of extreme partying and too much eating and drinking, I didn't realize that pretty much every set of women I saw had a physique within certain borders. No one was really "thick", many women were petite, and most were very short.
As soon as I started my traipsing about in DC, I noticed the difference especially with black women here. Even if they are young, many have the tell tale large hips that women who are in their thirties in Jamaica have, and many of them are overweight. Many of the men are overweight too, and tall. People in America are generally much bigger, even without the weight. In Jamaica, me standing at 6'1 and a half, I'm a reasonably tall guy. When I wear certain shoes, I'm very tall. Shoes or not in the states, i'm very, very average.
This is why the bubble has popped as well. In Kingston, my stomping ground (and i'm guessing many other parts of the island) there is an immediate exposure that comes with being in a "small town" atmosphere. You see the same people in the same places, people give you funny looks all the time. Everywhere I go, I feel watched. By the jerk chicken man, the attendant at the jewellry store. EVERYWHERE.... I feel watched.
When I'm in the states its a 100% shift. Wherever I go, no one looks at me with any interest. I become another faceless black man on the street. This stood out to me today in particular. I was in Pentagon City mall, doing an excercise in what I call "social meditation" (more on that later) and I went into a Ritz camera shop to look at a few digi cams. I was wearing a tan jacket, a blue and orange trucker hat and gray pants. To my left, a young black man wearing almost full black sat down. "Do you have any ten dollar t-mobile cards?" the young man said to an attendant at the back. The attendant, looked directly at him and said. "Yes, if we have some, we have them."
I proceeded to walk up to the counter at this point. He turns around to me, looks me square in the eye and says. "Ten dollar t-mobile card?"
I laughed to myself at this point.
I think being faceless has its advantages and serious disadvantages. Sometimes I can hide in a crowd quite easily and walk around and think for hours on end about nothing in particular. I can roam the city for days and no one will say a word to me. Other times, it is a bit unnerving to be in the presence of such a large social atmosphere comprising of millions and not be inclined to want an interaction. I find it very interesting. That is not a comparison to Kingston culture, because that is a whole other kettle of fish... possibly for another blog.
So America is fatter and more isloated (in the cities) at least. It might be an island thing, but I can see how living in such a large city can make a person feel very isolated very quickly, even if you are quite familiar with the area itself. I don't mind it anymore. I have a reasonable sense of DC. In Jamaica, we have classism based on skin colour and money. Here it is mainly racism, in the sense of entitlement that doesn't have anything to do with money all the time. Having both views of these cultures has always made me have a semi-neutral stance on my surroundings.
I am not appalled that on certain buses there are mainly sick, poor black people riding them. I am also not bothered anymore that the area I live is being gentrified at a rapid rate. These are not things I can control, but they are merely things I observe.
I felt like writing this more than talking about how I successfully blocked no less than seven Express employees from making me sign up for a credit card while I was at the mall, even though that was fun.
Tonight is Friday. May I storm the streets of Adams Morgan like it was Normandy, walk with the focus of Napoleon and get jiggy like big Will.
No comments:
Post a Comment