#missingthe90s

Behind the wall of a McDonald’s being renovated.

I remember the halloween after ‘scream’ came out and everyone dressed up as ghostface that year. All my friends had the original mask. My mom asked what I needed for my costume and i told her that I wanted to be the killer from scream. She came back home from the dollar store with that shitty, off brand, green mask. I was the only one of my friends with with the knock-off mask that year. incidentally, I was also the kid with those crappy, faded, “fake” pokemon cards and so noone would make trades with me. A little isolating, but my mom tried her best and I love her for that.

lunch time at school!

Being off the digital matrix in Cuba reminded me of how we once drew towards one another (by calling, dropping by, or going to mutually chosen places).  Just a little over decade ago Facebook was not even a part of our lives.  & Yet it seems essential for us now to avoid isolation.  Once upon a time, I travelled around India and the Phiippines (& even hitchhiked the CA coast), for weeks & months at a time, with only maps, some coins, a calling card...& an openness to (& reliance on) strangers. Nowadays we would rather turn to Siri rather than ask the person beside us a question. is it just as those of us pre-millenials feared -- that along w/more technology, trust in the real, in the tangible (people, landmarks, our inner compass) has been lost? Don't get me wrong, I am city-smart, but how much of our distrust is real, and how much constructed? #offthegridagain