Portland's City Repair is an all-volunteer grassroots organization helping people reclaim their urban spaces to create community-oriented places.
Their T-Horse project is a winged vehicle that travels around Portland every Monday evening during the summers.
The purpose of the T-Horse is to have neighborhood tea parties in parks, giving neighbors an opportunity to meet each other in a unique yet informal atmosphere. We flyer each neighborhood we visit, and ask neighbors to bring homemade dessert, music, and conversation to share with each other under the wings of the T-Horse. The truck provides tea and atmosphere for connections to take place.
So nice, especially when I think of the proliferation of parks in San Pedro, where I am now, and how rarely I see people in the early evening using them.
Anyway, my first thought was: "and why not add free WiFi?" Which is weird, since I'm already getting eye and wrist strain from the hours with the lid up. And also weird, since I'm already seeing a massive backlash against online connectedness, and especially against the advent of the umpteenth social software. As someone posted on one of my (too-many) mailing lists: I actually find myself withdrawing from the web: In addition to using it because of my job, I'm on only three discussion lists (on which I mostly lurk) and I keep in touch with friends and family abroad (though I find myself calling them instead of emailing these days). When I go on vacation,
I don't even check my email anymore.
Airports are great places for the kind of "take your work everywhere" ads that seem to be what marketers think business travellers will like. You know -- the ad where the guy is sitting on a swing or something with his laptop. Great. Americans now work more hours and face greater intrusion of work demands into leisure time. Cafes and parks are more and more workplaces, which is all very well. It's how I live my own life. But my own impulse to extend the permanet to the T-Horse is a symptom of my everpresent...busyness. I'm pretty much always working. Or on my way to work. Giving me more access to online communication -- even when I think I want it -- won't make my evenings any happier.
And why tie people to more screens? It's bad enough that every fifth SUV I see around LA these days seems to have a video screen hanging from the ceiling*. I love free public WiFi, as who doesn't**, but there's nothing wrong with enjoying a summer night without the glow of the monitor and the click of keys.
* Boredom is the mother of excellent car games.
** As I've already told everyone who will listen, I can't believe that T-Mobile expects to make a profit on charging for WiFi when any nearby business can reap the promotional benefits of doing it for free without also having to serve coffee or provide seating.
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