Personal Note: Neighbors

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Anyang, black and white, film photography, Korea, neighborhood, neighbors, personal note, photography, urban exploration

I live in an “office-tel”, a studio apartment in an 18 story complex. I have a twenty-four hour convenience store downstairs as well as two half decent restaurants and an excellent cafe in the area. I want for nothing… except neighbors.

To be clear, I do have a neighbor. Is it a him, a her, or a them? I’ve never seen a single person come or go from that door, but I hear things, especially their shitter of a dog. Every damn day. The frothy little beast bothers me, but what bothers me even more is that in places like this apartment building you can’t really have neighbors. I do have friends in the area, but I usually only see them when I want to. I mean people who you see, deal with, and acknowledge based on proximity and a sense of shared space.

I could do with a little more human contact. It’s a pity to be so close and distant. And it’s not as if I could go out and knock on doors or arrive smiling with a jello pie. That kind of stuff just doesn’t fly here. I’d like to see people, not doors. I’d also like some space. And some nature. And maybe a dog. But not a shitter.

Then I realize I have a choice. I can move back home. In fact, I will move back home before the year’s out.

Recently I went to Deoksan Market with my friend Angelo. Deoksan is an entire neighborhood that’s been abandoned and zoned for demolition. Walking amongst the houses I found family photos, old clothes, withered gardens, smashed windows and broken doors. I also saw a lot of red spray paint with messages like “You’re going to die!”

While looking at the buildings I realized that the residents of Deoksan had a neighborhood, complete with communal balconies, shared gardens, and backyards with low fences. I also realized that, unlike me, they probably didn’t have many choices. Take a lump sum and get out or get harassed by corporate thugs and police in riot gear.

And what they’re putting in place of the neighborhood are more office-tels. More doors. I guess money talks, and sometimes forcefully. It’s a pity the neighborhood was destroyed, but I guess that’s just the way of things.

I hope the former residents of Deoksan find new homes.

And I shouldn’t complain so much. I should just take the choices available to me and make the best of them.

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Personal Note: Politics…

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personal note, photography, politics, street photography

It’s Korean election season, complete with all of this nation’s bells and whistles (somewhat different from our own). I’ve had the joy of listening to candidates’ names sung to snazzy pop tunes, got to see bobble-headed animations of them walking through an adoring nation, and have even had some encounters with their dancing, bowing, handshaking minions.

And it makes me realize how happy I was to miss the election season back home. My political opinions may not be sufficiently nuanced for some, as I regarded our last election as a contrived battle between filth and scum. I will say though that, except for one instance, I kept the nastiness to myself. Not so for others, even those I admire and respect as friends.

Along with the habit of speaking in polarizing and offensive language to the opposition there comes the silly idea that one’s opinion really matters in situations of national importance, real or contrived. People think too globally and spend too much time watching what passes for news.

Perhaps cynically, I see those posting hard-line articles, responses and more recently (and reprehensibly), snarky image slogans as attention seeking blow-hards. And it hasn’t ended with the election.

In light of the recent tragedy in Connecticut, the drums were banged again before they even had a chance to be dusted off. I became aware of the event not through unbiased news coverage, but by a friend’s posting of some shrill screed on gun control. An article poo-pooing America’s gun culture and calling for radical change, it was then reposted and shared five times by various acquaintances. One wonders if they don’t have these kinds of articles ready-made with a few blanks to fill in: location, victims, talking point.

I was tempted to fire back with this:

“Gun control, smun control. People need to stop talking like they know. America has much deeper issues and needs to find common ground and stop alienating its citizens, if that is even remotely possible these days.

In the meantime, do you really think gun control is going to prevent the hideously deranged and maladjusted from accessing one of the hundreds of thousands of guns already out there, under or above the radar? Do you think the federal government is going to stop all the antisocial psychopaths with laws and regulations? If it tried, where would we be then?

Tragedy is terrible, and exploiting it is cynical. So turn off the over-opinionated malarkey that passes for news for Christ’s sake and stop using this event as a platform for your boilerplate political opinions. Instead, if you’re American, I’d look local and do something kind for those in your communities. If you’re not, I’d respectfully refer you to the second sentence in this post.”

I decided to post it here instead of facebook. I’m surprised I’m posting it at all. And perhaps it’s a mistake. Maybe I don’t get it. Perhaps I’ll be seen as a big unfriendly ogre.

Bottom line, I guess this is the refuse of democracy. Name-calling, propaganda, butting in, righteous indignation, exploiting tragedy, scrutinizing insignificance, and diverting away from complicated avenues of discourse into something that people can get rowdy about from their cubicles and recliners. No thank you. I’d rather have hand-dancing, sashes, and jingles all the way.

Now back to my cave.