Well stocked grocery-super store after Christmas holiday

 

Monday after 2021 Christmas on Saturday - so much in stock

When compared to the inventory size and variety at a convenience store or old-time "mom and pop" grocery store before the 1950s, the massive scale of the Superstore - combining general merchandise (department store) AND grocery store, along with pharmacy, automotive center, garden products - is really astounding for sheer abundance. This photo shows the extra-wide space for rapidly changing seasonal and specially priced goods at the end of the numbered aisles to the right and the non-grocery (department store) aisles left of this photo. For example, the stacks of packing boxes in yellow reaching from ankle to chest height offer bags of chocolate chips that are essential to the many variations on chocolate chip cookies. A shopper need only reach into the opening at the side of the carton to pull out as many bags as the wish. Not far away are 5# bags of all-purpose baking flour. Behind the lens is an ever shifting inventory of regionally brewed (craft) beer varieties. The numbered aisle to the right still add prominent display of featured items on the "end cap," but these massive pallet loads amplify the idea of "end cap" greatly, insisting on attention by shoppers since the cubes of product reach eye-level or higher and require care when navigating with one's giant shopping cart.

With so much space occupied, so much color, so much quantity of any given item in the grocery inventory, the general impression is one of abundance. If this is a feast for the eyes, then the visual effect can quickly lead to indigestion: Too Much Inventory. Projecting the full life-cycle of a foodstuff: it goes from source (field, ocean) to manufacture or processing and packaging and palletizing. Then truckers go from factory to depot distribution site before local delivery vehicles stock the retail level shelves. Once the consumer selects things for the shopping cart and either whiles away the time at checkout lane by browsing magazines and impulse purchases of candy and savory snacks, or else lines up for a turn at the self-checkout corral with one or two staff ready to trouble-shoot some of the scanning problems (alcohol sales requiring ID verification, mislabel/prices item, coupons not valid or not machine readable, double-counting of an item incorrectly swiped across the laser field, etc). Then, once consumed in whole or in part, the package is discarded and hauled away for solid waste (landfill) deposit, or sometimes it goes into the single-stream recycle curbside service in the city or town or countryside. In other words, looking back at this photo of such masses of products concentrated here, eventually each packet of chocolate chips will end up in a household within a 5 or 10-mile radius, then all these bags -once emptied- will end up during these next weeks and months scattered through the stream of solid waste carted away to the towering landfill ziggurat.

In summary, the scale and diversity of grocery (and department store) inventory today is astounding. Carts are scaled accordingly (the reverse of portion control: go big to encourage more buying). First-time shoppers can be intimidated as they gawk and wonder at the choices and the packaging volumes. Even long-time shoppers can sometimes express a slightly weary look, knowing how many steps their personal exercise calculator will record between arrival and checkout and exiting into the sea of cars filling the parking lot. Perhaps this kind of supply chain, display method, and business transaction is here to stay, forcing out of business almost all except the biggest regional and national stores.

Books organized and mental organization, too

 

Counseling office & church minister's study before moving day

Church ministers combine a life of the mind with a life in the community of worshipers and surrounding society, too. This photo shows some of the built-in bookcases in the minister's offices. The years of seminary and then the decades of leading a few different congregations, attending and presenting at conferences, and exchanging books with colleagues and church members has filled many shelves with books over the years. But the Covid-19 pandemic put a stop to normal face to face church life, confining it to online communication at first, then in summer 2021 with a hybrid of online together with in-person for those comfortable with the idea of mingling with others once again. Stalwart congregants got online or somehow kept in touch with some of their fellow believers. But others stopped participating casually as they would once do in seasonal high points of the church year.

Meanwhile, younger generations preoccupy themselves with things other than church fellowship and studies, praising and praying, and volunteering. Lifetime church members and friends move away, grow unable to participate freely, perhaps become sick or sometimes may die. The net result of declining attendance and therefore reduced donations of self and of money means that the fixed costs of the large property cannot be carried by the continuously shrinking body of believers. The church leaders brought a plan to the rest of the church to sell the old place and carry on the teachings of Jesus and community involvements at a smaller facility during a transitional year or two before resolving the best form to fit modern times and constraints while still supporting one another to "be God's person" or agent to enact positive change through action, relationships, and other times by inaction - being present, not just doing things.

This photo shows books organized by themes and thinkers for the current minister of the church in the weeks before vacating the old building and initiating church life in a much smaller setting so that effort, time, and money can be spent on community outreach and engagement rather than on maintenance and expenses of the 19th century worship space. The cases of books present a visual architecture of knowledge that has grown year by year organically, but which soon will be disassembled and fragmented into labeled boxes. This year by year structure of printed knowledge corresponds in some ways to the compartments and connections in the mind of the reader who has gathered these many authors of diverse eras and locations in one place. So while the physical edifice will soon be scattered into many cardboard boxes, the duplicate library inside the minister's head will remain in some ways.

National flag and personal life intersect at funeral

many meanings of the USA flag on the funeral hearse's front bumper

Late Wednesday morning, December 8, 2021, a funeral was getting underway. In the parking lot behind the church and the one across the street there were about 50 cars waiting to take people home or to the cemetery, if burial ceremonies were planned after the church service. In the context of 22 months of Covid-19 there is some chance that this life (or lives - since 2 hearses are positioned at curbside) was cut short directly by the virus, or indirectly that the hospital services were strained by the burden of unvaccinated people filling the hospital rooms and taking up the services there. But without stopping to talk to those present or searching for a published obituary, the cause of death is only guesswork.

The funeral hearse nearest to the camera displays the U.S. flag on the front bumper. Thinking of funeral customs for the other 200 national states, or for the many human societies that comprise the almost 7,000 languages that are spoken, surely this use of a national symbol on a personal and family-level matter is not common unless the deceased represents political leadership, national fame, or died in armed service (or veteran of military service). Without interviewing the owner of the hearse, its driver, or the company managers, along with the people attending the funeral, it is only speculation about possible significance (or more likely, multiple meanings) coming from the use of the national flag in connection with the dignified undertaking of funeral ceremonies and the safe conduct to and from the burial ground.

-Propriety (official, above-board, dignified, customary): This thread of meaning connects the person or business displaying the national flag to the country's wealth, fame, and all the life-affirming values that come with it. The darker chapters tend to fall into the shadows when the spotlight is fixed on the good things, though. In this photo, then, prominently exhibiting the flag (but not shouted loudly in oversize or multiplicity) assures like-minded people that the funeral company values and perhaps feels pride in belonging together with the present and the history associated with this banner. And for others who feel ambivalence about the mixed record of harm and healing carried out in the name of this flag, by displaying it out front, those who feel doubt will be put on notice that this vehicle and all those trailing behind it stand on the side of a positive accounting of the symbol and people connected to it.

-Authorized (halo-effect from close-association with the power of law and force): Seeing a flag in public as well as private spaces is a signifier that the proceedings are implicitly protected by the full faith and the rule of law of the land. In this photo, the presence of a national flag picture (or one made of cloth) seems to suggest that all procedures have been followed, duties fulfilled, and debts paid. No corruption should be suspected or expected or allowed.

-Conservative, button-down, standard-issue, government-conforming: Another meaning some will feel upon encountering a (USA; other countries have a different relationship of flag to citizens, no doubt) national flag is one of status quo; a sense that things will proceed as they have in the past.  No erratic, strange, or outlandish behavior is likely.

-Vocation (former government work for local, state, or federal employer): Before the funeral owner opened the business, perhaps he or she was a federal worker and/or a member of the military. In that case the flag signals the person's (or the company's) organic roots with Old Glory. The flag is part of their past work.

-Avocational (proud of team USA, symbols, popularly imagined history): Even when a person or organization has no direct connection to federal or national services and products, perhaps they feel strongly about expressing allegiance to this "one country, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all" (quoting the school child's Pledge of Allegiance recited many times). In that case, showing the national colors discretely in the panel reserved for a license plate in some states is an affirmation or aspirational statement.

-Personal history (recent immigrant or else a genealogy enthusiast with long roots in USA): The flag display on lapel, desk, office wall, or raised on a pole could also signify something particular for that person. For example, a "new" American may have come via career path and advanced studies, as an asylum seeker or refugee of disaster, or as family member of someone previously establishing American citizenship by birth or marriage, for instance. In that case, a sense of ownership and belonging and gratitude, among many other possible mixed feelings could be carried by the visual presence of the banner. In a related but different way, someone who has looked deeply into family histories may feel a multi-generational sort of loyalty or allegiance to the many people, places, and things symbolized by the flag.

-Personal identity (define and view oneself by the category of flag and anthem more than by local ties): Some people see themselves, and are regarded by others, as a patriot and outspoken supporter of the things that the flag stands for in that person's mind. Others downplay their national citizenship and the source of their passport and build their identity instead on a foundation of the wider planet, or conversely, on a foundation of the immediate surroundings of their town or county. However, for the person who wants to be known, and feels most satisfied in seeing herself or himself, in national terms, then displaying the flag is a particularly personal statement; a sort of credo for who they are.

This list of possible meanings conveyed by a public display of the United States flag is not exhaustive; there are probably other sorts of significance being purposefully or subconsciously expressed when making a decision to put a flag on view. Realistically, the uppermost meaning in the eye of the beholder, the eye of the one displaying, or in the mind of others just passing by will be a combination of factors rather than a single dominant meaning. And for complicated, context-dependent meanings, it may well be that much lies underwater, like the bulk of an iceberg: part can be seen and discussed, but the greater part is unseen and is hard to put into words. So, directly asking a person what comes to mind when they see the flag might only turn up a few meanings or hints of meanings rather than a fully formed verbal response.

In any case, though, for the funeral company staff their minds are focused on providing professional and personal care for the people in mourning. The attention of the family and friends participating in the ceremonies is occupied with the events as they unfold minute by minute, the feelings that come up in themselves and in those nearby. It is probably only in the mind and lens of a passer-by that such considerations about the meanings of the national flag are studied in reflection. And yet, even for the funeral workers and the mourners, at least a little of the flag's presence and the meanings it triggers will be present, whether or not they stop to imagine the many kinds of meanings that arise when personal life and national symbols meet each other.

Cultural landscape at bus stop - Forensic Brainstorming

mid-morning heap of possessions at bus stop (8 Dec. 2021)

At first "brainstorming" and "forensic interpretation" appear to be opposite in purpose. One is meant to open up possibilities, unrestrained by ordinary habits of perception. The other is meant to eliminate all except the (single-most) probable explanation. But upon seeing this collection of clothing, backpack, and other personal items, the pool of possible meanings began to come into mind (brainstorming). But more than idle interpretation, instead I proceed with a view to turning up something close to the true significance of this sight (forensic scrutiny). However, in the end, this is an exercise in social commentary, so no DNA samples are going to the lab; no missing persons reports will be consulted; and no enhanced magnification of the contents will be inventoried. Instead, an initial pool of meanings will be offered in order to turn up some or all of the actual interpretation for this strange sight.

Brainstorming some lines of interpretation, in no particular order. (1) Donation deposited halfheartedly (casual, careless, anonymous versus carefully calculated to fit a particular person frequently at this location). (2) Discarding unwanted items in halfhearted attempt to donate to another person. (3) Dropped in haste by a person carrying too many pieces of luggage to board the bus. (4) Discovered by a passer-by who noticed a bus rider losing the things en route to this location. The good Samaritan picked up the things and brought them to that bus stop supposing that the rider may well return at some point. (5) Demonstration of interpersonal malice or ill will: dumping the possessions of the person diminished in the eyes of the person depositing the things in a pile here. (6) Dithering by the person who received these donated things. At first they carry the things to the bus stop, then studying them more carefully, the person discards unwanted parts there and then, keeping only the items desired. (7) Distress by the person fleeing a person or vehicle: drop these things and run. (8) Dumped items stolen from nearby laundromat's washer or dryer.

Each of these initial interpretations of the heap of clothing is a self-contained story, but very often the true sequence of events is not simple or single cause, single effect. Instead there could be a set of events or sequence of circumstances that intersect at the moment of decision that produces the sight in view here. In other words, while there may be some truth in one or more of the string of imagined self-contained situations leading to the heap of clothing, above, it may well be that there is some combination of the interpretations here, along with other factors not yet imagined in the list. The habit of overthinking and projecting meanings where none were originally present is well known. Less well known, though, is "underthinking" a problem or a general lack of imagination to solve the case. And yet, it is somewhere between thinking too much and too little that the most progress can be made with "forensic brainstorming."

In summary, are these possessions "single-use" (disposable), a person's entire stock of worldly goods, or maybe somewhere in-between? Beyond the relationship of the items to the person or persons, though, what is the social condition of the person(s): unhoused and bereft of supporting social fabric, homeless but migrating from one hosting friend or family member to the next, a traveler who is in the city only long enough to get to the other side, someone is distress from alcohol/drug use disorder, or a person who is unable to secure and maintain a fixed residence where personal belongings like these can be kept? Without investigating further or actually meeting the person last touching the things when they were abandoned, it is impossible to compose a complete picture of the meaning of these belongings at the bus stop.