Processing return from Maine... Here are a few pictures of the trip:




A hotel on Rt. 9 between Calais and Bangor.




A small convenience store that sells ice, bait and mountain dew.



A blueberry factory-now owned by Wyman's (their logo is in the distance)

...so obviously it was snowy, but nice. Seemed much more desolate than other visits. Maybe that's just the dead of winter and the loneliness of the holidays...

At the airport...

Maine. Trying to keep up with the rest of the country, but still using scotch tape when it should be using glue.

yow-zaa! Now, there's an idea.



(source)

There is something that is strangely intimate about the 4-way stops here in Evanston.
Like seeing grown men eat.
Vulnerable and cautious.
Drivers communicate on an instinctual level, following an unwritten code.
And the right decisions are made.

If sidewalks were runways, I still wouldn't like this look

To veer away from more serious conversations, such as "will I be killed by a bomb in India in February?" I'd like to focus on seasonal fashion. Notably, the ski mask. I hadn't thought about the ski mask as anything more than something runners must wear during early morning jogs and of course a necessary accoutrement for any serious snowmobiler. But I have to draw the line at walking down city streets with this almost overly functional piece of winter gear.

Then I thought, "Hey if it's warm, who cares if it frightens me (and small children)?" Why can't we be comfortable and warm no matter what it looks like? My first thought to dispute my attempt at being diplomatic: high heels. I'll be the first to admit that the reason I don't own any high heels is because I can't walk in them, not because I don't like them. But they are the perfect example of how a small amount of pain is necessary to fit into social ideals of beauty, at least in this country. Maybe the rules are different once we're out of the office and onto the streets, but I still feel that the slight sting of cold air on a bare face is a small price to pay, not just for being presentable, but for not being scary.

Though I found a few acceptable forms of ski masks, this one is just plain scary, but also hilarious.



Photo credit: http://swapatorium.blogspot.com/2004/12/ski-masks.html