So poetic, so beautiful. This person took one of my favorite movie monologues and somehow… made it better?
I never understood people who post these “rest stop alleys” along the freeway as if its something horrible. Some kind of dystopian scene of capitalism gone astray. I find them fascinating. Each one like an ancient bazaar. Each one a booth of some kind, reflecting the local people and the people who pass through this particular road. They all have McDonalds sure, but why does one have a Burger King and the other Wendy’s? why is there 2 gas stations in this one and 3 in the other one? What about the strange and mysterious businesses that lurk in between in windowless second floors and basements, connected by roads the freeway people don’t even seem to notice? How many of them are owned by the mafia?
Unique businesses that only exist there and nowhere else, and how that businesses existence effects the others in it’s wake? is it drawing traffic or is it leeching off it? Is it providing a similar service available at all the others rest stop alleys or it providing something unique that draws people from miles away? Sometimes more interesting is what is just beyond the seemingly copy and pasted rest stop alleys. Is there a small town that has remained virtually unchanged since 1600? an angry crew of skater teens high on spraypaint fumes? a vast forest completely void of human life, only discoverable by the poor unfortunate souls who dared search for cheaper gas slightly down the road? I imagine the luddites felt the same way when all the village markets started using color dyed tents. So bright and visible, lacking any uniqueness, truly a sign of the ills of the modern era.
I never understood people who post these “rest stops alleys” along the freeway as if its something horrible.
Well, part of it is that it is usually posted without context, suggesting that this is how residential town centers are. You’ve probably seen the repost-of-a-repost “why don’t kids want to play outside? this is the outside they created” memes. And yeah, it’s clearly a place most would rather visit than live. Maybe the truckstop-town is the ultimate evolution of the liminal space whilst guided by 1900s capitalism.
PS: you have been banned from /c/fuck_cars
kids dont play outside anymore because there’s air conditioning, cable tv, internet, and video games. for some reason sitting on your neighbors porch and watching flies fuck doesn’t seem as attractive to them anymore, as sociable as that might have seemed to boomers at the time. The park near my house is always empty, the city recently renovated it and everything, still hardly ever a soul in there. Building a park in your formerly segregated suburban gated community won’t all of a sudden turn it into an epicenter of cultural learning and activity. Might give the skater kids another place to huff spraypaint but that’s it.
perhaps the heavy handed mod team of c/fuck_cars will be willing to forgive my many transgressions and unban me when they realize I am actually against the ever increasing suburbanization of the planet. the bedroom communities, existing just outside most major cities, with little commercial activity other than these rest stop alleys. Of course there’s nothing for kids to do because it wasn’t built for them it was built for their wealthy racist parents to flee the inner cities, now that they are no longer segregated that is. Freeways still need to exist though, even with well funded public transport. Atleast until stores figure out a way to stock their shelves through teleportation or catapult.
The kids can’t leave after school, since they dont own cars, they can barely walk to the overpriced convenience store on rest stop alley. The store 10 miles down the road is much cheaper but this is the one by the freeway and upcharges for convenience, it is a convenience store after all. But unfortunately the ole timey mom and pop general store that totally took down their whites only sign a long time ago, sadly went out of business and blamed the new fangled convenience store with its bright signs and prices that simultaneously are so low they can’t compete, and so high they’re ripping off the whole community, truly a sign of the ills of the modern era.
