Lest you should think I fell permanently into the quiet zone, here I am posting after a 2 week moratorium. Actually, there was Thanksgiving and my "tech fast" and then I got sick with what I thought was the flu. When I woke up on Day 3 with my neck hurting from my clavicle to my jaw, and a throat that hadn't been as sore since radiation treatment, I decided I should ask a doctor to rule out meningitis or something more serious than flu. It turns out I had a tonsiller abscess (curious, as my tonsils were removed in 1974). The good news is that a bacterial infection calls for an antibiotic, aka magic pills. After just 2 doses of Amoxicillin, the persistent fever was down and I was on the mend. But I digress...
Just as I struggled with Thanksgiving, I am slogging through the Christmas season. I have a general feeling of disenfranchisement. This is the first year in a decade that I am single, a state I generally enjoy, but with 2 kids and seasonal retail propaganda, that contentment is challenged. My employer is honkering down right now in an effort to get through the recession without layoffs. Last year we had a tremendous holiday party, bonuses and annual raises. This year there are none of those things. And while most of us are smart enough to be thankful for the precautionary cutbacks, a little holiday spirit seems to have been trimmed out as well.
So with all that has been going on for me, it could be that I have my head in the sand down here in Hermosa Beach, but it seems to me that there is a conspicuous lack of bling lately. It been quite a while since I've seen heavy gold jewelry or a tricked out H2. When was the last time you saw anything encrusted in Swarovski crystals? Ages for me. Could it be that in this economic climate, we Americans are exhibiting restraint in the image department? It makes me wonder where else this reigning in is taking place.
I remember when Y2K was approaching, there was a phenomenon in advertising and more specifically photography. As the uncertainty of how the technology infrastructure would handle the change from "19" to "20" and the ensuing anxiety grew to near hysteria, the treatment of imagery in marketing did the polar opposite. At the turn of the century, the 35-50 demographic had spent their childhoods with warm hues of Kodachrome prints from their Instamatic cameras. 1n 1999, everywhere you looked were photographs that appeared have been shot in 1970. It was a reference to a much simpler time, when the world was understandable and safe from potential meltdown. The only computer people had in the home was made by Texas Instruments, telephones had cords, car doors were unlocked with keys, and banking was done with a teller. The nostalgic aesthetic reflected the need for comfort in a time of great uncertainty.
I have to think that the current election and the manner in which Barack Obama has conducted himself during his campaign and thus far during the transition of administrations, has enormous impact on the attitude of the American people. I mean this not just in our ideology, but in the way we express who we are and what we stand for. The excess of Sarah Palin's now estimated $180,000 wardrobe does not reflect who we are anymore. It's more about Obama's understated Hartmarx wool suits (albeit at $1500 a pop). Just at a time when we need to be binding together in a mutual effort to rebuild our country, blatant displays of excess just don't seem to be consistent with the "Yes We Can" mindset. Who would have thought that the Change that came to America was Good Taste?
