The Moods of Transportation

Originally I called this Modes of  Transport. I don’t know why it is comforting to see similar objects lined  up against each. Like in a grocery store. Or an automobile lot. Or on a beach. The mass production of similar or identical objects is a peculiarly 20th century idea. Its democratic. Everyone has the same thing. Of course it also means that there is a certain homogenous quality to everything. Besides being a comfort, this is of course one of our great fears. That we will all turn out to be the same. The loudest objection to this leveling process comes from the conservative right in the United States, the home of individualism. Odd how these same individualist conform so much to convention and hang on to the status quo to their death. A lot of principals can be reduced to self-interest, to what makes us comfortable.  Well, I still like my bike. I don’t drive a car. Not because of any principal. I just never got around to getting one.

The Lecture

My daughter is going to university this fall. She has many new experiences in front of her. I remember stepping into my first lecture, in a large hall, with about 300 other students. It was a history class. I loved history. I sat there, eyes and ears filled with anticipation. The first thing the professor did when he opened his mouth was yawn. You guessed it. The whole year was like that. By his third lecture the numbers in his class had dwindle down to a few dozen students. My future girl friend, who sat in the front row, fell asleep during one of  his lectures, falling out of her seat and onto the floor. Looking back I guess he was a pretty good egg. She still got an A.