Thursday, April 18, 2013

no cars go

anna told me about a recent study about the car culture of young people.  there is no car culture.  young people prefer to live in cities and get around by bike, public transport and walking.  young people connect via social media.  cars are only things that are sometimes necessary.  car manufacturers are worried because brand loyalty starts as a teenager.  you know, my dad was a chevy man; i am a chevy man.

which is probably for the better really because cars are a terrible expense, horrible polluters, and obscenely dangerous.  not having a car is better for the environment, the checking account and your health.

and yet, even though i am not a car kind of guy myself there are a few vestiges of the old car culture i love.  like drive-in theaters.  i heard in the news a week ago that our own sac 6 drive-ins are set for closure in the next year to make way for a new shopping center.  the developer for the new shopping center has had plans to demolish the sac 6 for years.  the economy is changing i hear for the better.  so i think that this might really be the last summer for the sac 6 drive-ins.  once it goes there will be no other drive-ins left in sac.  the drive-ins are dead.

at any rate, i am grateful that that last vestige of the old car culture has stuck around long enough into the 21st century that nick will remember it.  i was able to share my love of the drive-in with my son.

i don't know.  thinking that the old car culture is dead put me in mind of that creeley poem, 'I know a Man' that goes

     why not, buy a goddamn big car,

     drive, he sd, for
     christ's sake, look
     out where yr going.

because what is freedom but freedom of movement.  getting a driver's license was the first toehold of independence and adulthood.  the driver's license was a rite of passage.  what of our pixelated era.  what poems will be written from, to, and on the ether.  i'm sure there will be poems.  if there are humans then there will be poems.  something to look forward to.  hell, i have turned into an e-poet.  this is a brave new world.   

2 Comments:

At 10:33 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Sad to hear about the drive-ins, We'll have to go a couple more times, I wouldn't be so quick to bet on the death of the car culture, Young people grow up and China is set to add a couple hundred million new car enthusiast over the next decade or so, But unfortunately they appear to be Buick fans.
B

 
At 1:50 AM, Blogger richard lopez said...

hey b. i woke up this morning at 6:00 to let the hound out for her morning toilet and turned on the tv. AMERICAN GRAFFITTI was on one of the movie channels. i watched a few minutes of the film before going back to bed. that is the ultimate car culture movie. and that is the sort of culture i mean that is dying. or dead. drive-ins were predicated on that car culture. there will always be enthusiasts of nearly every stripe, be it making fishing lures, writing poetry, or customizing vw beetles. but to most of the general population cars are just transport.

just as well. took nick to the drive-ins tonight and the place was packed with families and their SUVs. and yet when i mention the drive-ins to co-workers most express astonishment that there is still drive-in screens standing let along showing movies.

buicks ain't all the bad! could be worse. they could be yugo fans.

 

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