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Balconies These postcards contain ghostly visions of black uniformed, rear-guard functionaries enjoying the view from their verandas in the hills. Moments of the most exquisite taste and flattering service from a kindly host. These postcards contain spiritual renewal in a crystalline pool and evidence of progressive state planning in support of a new economy in service of global markets that transform the valley into a network of modern highways, commercializing both play and escape into the surrounding hills where folk life serves postcard purposes though there is evidence of reconstruction at some railway crossings: grading the embankment and repair of a rusted signal associated with an unused switching mechanism. The waiters have come to know me at the café where I regularly take my coffee on the balcony and review my language lessons or simply read. In illo tempore, the anthropologist felt no compulsion to descend from the veranda or engage the people. What forms of engagement are possible? A smile that shows the teeth? Caravaggio’s self-reflexive grimace, provocative gambler.
Donald Wellman | Mudlark No. 34 |