I was walking on good old State Street this morning, and I saw a girl walking from Starbucks back to the Towers, carrying a grande no-whip something or other. She was dressed in a very coastie manner, sunglasses and all, looking straight ahead at her destination and ignoring all those around her. State Street, at least for her, is certainly a non-place. She was using it simply as transit between her apartment and Starbucks. I figured State Street would be worth further study as a non-place. So, I returned later today to see what I could find. What I found did not at all support my hypothesis that State Street was a non-place. I saw people sitting around with their dogs, talking to each other and enjoying the above-freezing temperatures. Scanner Dan was there as well, offending some group of girls near Einstein's. It was too cold for the Piccolo Guy or the crazy sci-fi spraypainter, but from what I saw, it was pretty clear that State Street has a definite culture, years in the making. I would consider State Street to be the heart of Madison, and I love it. So it is impossible for me to see State Street as a non-place. However, I would say that it was a non-place for the coastie girl was pretty undeniable. So, I have to conclude that place vs. non-place is really just relative. It depends on who is using it, and perhaps just on the day. Maybe the coastie girl was just feeling antisocial, and would normally treat State Street as the place it deserves to be treated as. I myself have sometimes treated Espresso Royale as a place, and used it to meet with people; I have also occasionally used it as a non place, and just gone for their good chai. Looking at it all from a post-modern point of view, you can't say anything absolute about the place itself--it is only how people interpret the place that defines it, and that can change from day to day.
3 comments:
I completely agree that spaces can be used as places or non-places depending on the person. I think that it is also funny how most people know who you are talking about when you say Scanner Dan and piccolo guy. Those people have definitely marked their spot on State st.
I also agree that the definition of a place/nonplace depends on the person and day the place is used. I also enjoyed your comment on the starbucks "no whip something or other." I find the extremely long names of coffee drinks rather entertaining.
I definitely can see your point on this topic of places vs non-places. I agree with you that the definition of a place can be subjective and relative to the person experiencing it. Also, that was a good way of putting it, that understanding places from a post-modern point of view is ever-changing and all depends on the person.
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