Ghost Malls & Buddhist Trains
Meditations on the Passing of Malls and the Going of Trains | dec5.2022
I recently posted the following photo/essay — about the now-diminished Town Center Mall in the heart of West Virginia’s capital — to TheStoryIsTheThing site, and then cross-posted it to my Facebook page. On FB, it occasioned quite some memory-tripping (if you’re on Facebook, see it here and add your own). Commentators recalled their personal tales of the heyday of this particular mall, with almost 50 comments on the coming of malls, their peak, and the current pale shadow of this formerly mega-mall — now a Minnie Mouse — you find in Charleston WV. Is your local mall still a thing?
IT’S NO LONGER A MALL THING | by Douglas John Imbrogno
Heading to the local mall used to be one of the social highlights of the week even ten years ago, much less 20. There were folks everywhere to satisfy the people-watching and social animal comfort human beings cherish when gathered in shiny, seemingly happy places. There were endless snacks from homemade pretzels-and-mustard to chocolate-cherry shakes and caramel cappuccinos. The window-shopping and bookstore browsing was itself a sub-category of pleasure. Going to the mall also signified upcoming life occasions. Picking out the latest shirt or swimsuit for an upcoming oceanic trip. Finding the perfect suit or a dress that night finally make one the Rhett Butler of the night or Belle of the Ball.
At least for a hundred miles in any direction in my vicinity, nowadays most malls are shadows of their former glory. For the first time in more than five years, I went to Charleston Town Center Mall in West Virginia’s capital city a few weeks ago to see Ann Magnuson perform her wonderful “SuRURALism” show, on a West Virginia Music Hall of Fame stage. The locale was revealing. The Hall of Fame occupies two large, abandoned commercial storefronts on the mall’s second floor, retrofitted into appealing spaces showcasing West Virginia’s many notable gifts to popular song. Less appealing was the rest of the mall’s long, empty hallways.
The mall’s second floor was a smidgen more lively than the first. But it was striking to see how many retail outlets from back in the day have — one-two-three-four-five-six-seven! — abandoned the whole idea of the mall. I am responsible, as are you, and any of us who’d rather click open Amazon.com or some other online retailer, seeking to flick a package to our porch by week’s end. In the case of the long-faded glory of Town Center Mall, the walls tell the story. Vast white lengths of flat panels where windows and doors used to be ghost over the days of a retail block party long since gone.
VIDEO/POEM: “A Dream of Perfect Motion”
I have spent years collecting footage of trains rumbling through West Virginia's hills & dales. I also scribble poems that sometimes play on Buddhist allusions. And, then, there's this electronic music maestro I know named Lucas the Flow, who composes ethereal tunes. Mix them together and this is what you get ...
CLICK TO VIEW VIDEO
PS: Read the poem on the page (with links to the Buddhist terms) on this page at TheStoryIsTheThing.com site.
QUOTE/WORKS: A remedy for lost illusions
Decades ago, when I was a younger fellow with quadruple the hair I now possess, I came upon this quote from Voltaire’s “Candide.” I scribbled it into one of the stacks of journals into which I have enscribed notes along the way of my passing. I must have been prescient about what lay decades ahead, on what Talking Heads and David Byrne once dubbed this “Road to Nowhere.” Perhaps like you, I have scattered many lost illusions behind me, which is, after all, a clarifying experience. What’s left after you stop trying to be cool, famous, the bomb, the boss, and beyond reproach? Work. Good work, that somehow feels like you are not hindering other folk along their way. And maybe, just a maybe, helping the cause of keeping all the goodness good.
~ VOLTAIRE (from "Candide") | More on Voltaire’s work-filled existence here: https://www.newyorker.com/mag.../2005/03/07/voltaires-garden
PS: It’s a Bunny Thing
When the headlines get you down and the cultists won't shut up, just remember this. There are bunnies in the world.
