swimming around the mill.

this past saturday i spent the afternoon weaving between the masses at potomac mills. my journey started on the way to my friend's condo, trying to duck the uproarious applause of the marathon runners. and i saw a woman screaming on her cell phone as she drove at a 40 mph clip. i hope no one died.

i hadn't been to potomac mills in a while. it's this behemoth of retail space that feels like i need a scooter to get me from place to place. we started at the marshalls mega store and worked our way through the food court, screaming babies and the most terrifying santa ever, to the nordstrom end. twenty-eight miles later. ok, i'm exaggerating. originally, my thoughts as i watched all these shoppers - families, singles, girlfriends, college buddies, white, black, latino, asian, gay, straight, kids, parents, moms, dads, grandparents, friends - centered on the culture of shopping at a perceived outlet mall (which, as times change, becomes less of one). about the search for a deal, the buzz of looking or furor of thousands of people surrounding you. this would be a germophobe's worst nightmare.

but i started to pay attention to everyone's bags. to the stores people spent more time in. for example, how i avoided the papaya store. but i flock to the disney store. or how my friends rush to the fossil store while i demand stopping in hot topic. or how abercrombie is a waste of my time. but the shoe section at nordstrom is my slice of heaven. there are a myriad of cultures working simultaneously as we walked around this retail space: the culture of the mall, the cultures within each store, the cultures reflected by the shoppers and the cultural dynamics of the shopping unit. wow, i think i confused myself.

i don't think it all hit me until i was in hot topic fighting to buy a g.i.joe t-shirt featuring my favorite cobra character. i realized i was playing in a few cultural moments: 80s nostalgia, sleek emo-indie, cartoon, etc. and they were ones not shared by my two friends who looked puzzled at my need to own this shirt. i remember the year-long search to find the storm shadow action figure. and i never found him attached to the original box art. it was just the loose figure. the shirt features the box art -- and a part of my childhood is now complete.

maybe i'm the crazy one.