Tuesday, November 24, 2015

On a Nice Day: A Stream of Consciousness

I love taking walks during the cold months. I find the late fall and winter to be uniquely sublime, and not just because the lesser warm-weather creatures stay inside and hide then. It is nice having a park or a paved trail to myself. Indoor privacy is nice, but outdoor privacy is just lovely, especially on a nice, cool day. One of those days when the sun is out, but the air is chilled like cheesecake. Good weather for a trench coat and corduroy slacks, and a pair of combat style boots that are still solid and taken care of, but tired and worn. Weathered like an old hooker who's seen many beds in many towns. Too many miles, too many tricks, and too little fun are wearing on her. She needs to hang it up and find a warm barroom to wait out what's left. But she's like the smoke stained lace curtains: still pretty under the right conditions. The right lighting and a little digital editing can make anything nice to look at. Like an old water tower moldering under the sky. The refuse of something that nobody can remember anymore; all they know is that it's a great place to smoke a bone... get lucky... or leave a body. It IS technically ugly. It's urban blight, after-all. But urban blight has become its own kind of niche art. Some of us find it enlightening when it's good. And it is if you know how to look at it. Which just goes to show, ANYTHING becomes noble if it can last long enough: ugly buildings... whores... lawyers. Just look at "Gone With the Wind". That movie is awful, but it's considered high culture because of how old it is. Bob Dylan hasn't made a good record in decades and yet every English major and hipster with a complex worships at the alter of the Jewish kid from Duluth who wrote songs about the relevant, even though he only got good after he stopped being relevant. He proved his critics wrong because he outlasted them long enough to write a book that I didn't like. But you have to respect that. And perhaps that's why autumn is the venerable season. The seasons change, and the year gets older with each month. By November the year is ready for retirement, and even if it sucked, it's been too long for anyone to remember why.