Tag Archives: airport

Oct14

magical portal.

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once again I found myself in the magical portal at the airport

I always forget

 this secret-ish place

exists on a lower level

at the airport

connecting one concourse to another

you have to enter it occasionally

depending on where your gate is

you go down the escalator

leaving the hustle and bustle behind

then you’re

suddenly thrust into a very different kind of space

colorful psychedelic wavy walls softly glow

as you glide through on a moving sidewalk

 soft ambient new age-y calming music

wraps all around you

until you arrive

at your destination

on the other side

it’s kind of mind-blowing

I can’t imagine the different reactions

 different kinds of people must have

but I know I am always surprised anew

when I find myself there

sometimes you’ll meet someone

who brings it up

in the outside world

have you ever been…?

do you know about…?

it’s like you’re part of a secret club

hiding in plain sight.

” Airports exist in a strange, liminal space where time feels unreal. You could spend anywhere from one hour to three days there, and life just pauses. It’s a universal place of transit, yet untethered to any real “place.”  “With a little imagination, airports become magical portals to distant lands. Sure, maybe you have a ticket to one specific place, but in reality, you could go anywhere. Infinite connections, endless possibilities — just a gate away. Foreign, yet familiar. Transient, yet grounding. Impersonal, yet deeply human. Static, yet always in motion. Liminal. Universal.”   –  clarissa tan, yale news

Jul3

belt.

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while at the airport waiting for a flight to arrive

 the voice of a cheerful tsa agent came on the intercom:

” attention, attention, all in the terminal!

if you are walking around

with your pants falling down around your knees

come back and see us at the tsa checkpoint,

we have your belt right where you left it!

—

 i figured this guy

 working a double shift this weekend

 dealing with a lot of unhappy, delayed, and cancelled customers

has a boss who’s putting out fires

or off for the log off the long holiday

 just wants to have fun and make the best of things

bravo.

—

“my belt holds my pants up, but the belt loops hold my belt up.

i don’t really know what’s happening down there.

who is the real hero?”

-mitch hedberg

Jun7

passing the time.

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Time is important at an airport, with thousands of people running back and forth trying to get their plane on time. This is why most airports are full of clocks everywhere, helping to guide harried travelers. Schiphol Airport in the Netherlands is no exception, but it offers a twist: a giant clock that appears as if a man is busy painting it real time, minute by minute. 

Schiphol Clock

It appears as if a man is standing behind this giant airport clock, painting the hands in real time. The painter is actually a 12-hour-long recording, that gives a convincing illusion that a human is standing inside the translucent clock, busy at work as the hands go around. This creative timepiece is the latest work of Maarten Baas, a well-known Dutch artist and designer that has a series of similar live clock recordings.

The Schiphol Airport clock was created by Baas in 2016. The man inside the clock is wearing blue overalls and has a yellow rag in his pocket. This, together with his red bucket, is meant to be an homage to the famous Dutch artist Mondrian.

The clock can be seen in the airport’s International terminal, so it is only visible to people leaving the European Union via Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, located in the International terminal.

we say that time passes, time goes by, and time flows.

those are metaphors.

we also think of time as a medium in which we exist.

-james gleick

 

 

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sources: atlas obscura, dutch design daily

Jan20

polar express.

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#airport #islandlife #mackinacisland #winteronmackinac #airplane #firsttimeonatinyplane #tinyplanes
jodie in the parking lot at mackinac island airport –
january in northern michigan
 
—

 

“i like the gizmos that transport people.”

-chris van allsburg – (michgan native and author of the polar express)

 

 

 

 

 

 

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credits: Mackinac Island Dockporters Association, jodie, roger priebe

 

Apr18

stumble not.

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chinese-shopping-mall-6701436-o (1)

traveling with my co-workers

to meet fellow educators

i was faced with a snap decision.

with one of us busy on her phone

working to get transportation from the airport

and the other already at the bottom

i suddenly realized i was left carrying two rolling bags.

while standing at the top of the moving stairs

and people piling up behind me.

i quickly did the math

and decided that:

me – one human

plus

they – two rolling bags

would probably not all

safely make it down at the same time.

so instead of a minus one situation

at the end of the equation

 i heaved my companion’s bag

right onto the escalator

all on it’s own

let it just gently bounce and roll down

figured it could take care of itself

alerted them to look out for it at the bottom

though when they looked up

they were too busy laughing

to realize the gravity of the situation

and somehow

it all ended well. 

humans and bags both

none the worse for wear.

survival instinct kicked in

at just the right moment.

and that is why we are teachers.

we are always learning.

i feel that i might be good in a landslide situation.

or a kindergarten classroom.

—

“let thy step be slow and steady, that thou stumble not.”

-ieyasu tokugawa

Feb2

Too clever is dumb. – Ogden Nash

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i was in arizona, visiting my sister and her family, and we crossed the border to go bargain shopping at a market in mexico. we saw lots and lots of wonderful things for sale, but there was one item i simply could not resist. i have always been a huge fan of pinatas, and of all of the celebrations and craziness that go with them, and i saw one that topped all the others. it was a giant. life-sized, santa claus piñata. i knew right away it had to be mine. and, in the spirit of being in the open-air market, i knew i would drive a hard bargain for st. nick. 

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soon after, there were 5 seconds of tough negotiations that went something like this,

‘how much for that santa?’

’10 dollars and 25 cents.’

‘how about 10 dollars?

‘okay.’

i knew i had been so clever, and had gotten the bargain of a lifetime. i was so happy, and santa and i kind of walked off with a newfound swagger, as i talked about how clever i had been, how the seller didn’t know how much this gem was worth, and how clever i really was.

we drove to the airport and i checked in, proud to be carrying my new friend santa, ready to show him how we like to celebrate the winter holidays in michigan. we got lots of odd looks, smiles and questioning faces, but no matter. it was so clever, that we had ended up together, and for such a bargain price. it was at the ticket counter, however, that my ‘so clever’ bubble was quickly popped,  i was told the following: ‘he’s too big to stow above, you’ll have to buy him his own seat.’ what, my $10.00 clever bargain santa would now cost me hundreds to get home??

and soon after, yet another round of intense negotiations took place:

‘okay, what are my other options?’

‘there is only one.’

‘okay.’

we found a compromise. santa could fly with the luggage in the cargo section of the plane, and i had to be willing to accept that he may not look the same upon arrival. we parted ways – him on a conveyer belt, and i walked down a long hallway. i imagined all sorts of terrible things happening to him without his clever mama watching over him, but he would have been an expensive companion to have on board.

when i landed i saw him coming around the luggage carousel, feet first, and with a toe tag on. i thought about how he looked like he was in a morgue, and i knew it had been a very rough flight for him. i picked him up, stood him upright, and as we walked away, he was not quite as jolly, and i, not quite as clever. it had been a good run of clever for both of us though, and how quickly it was over.  

The desire to seem clever often keeps us from being so.  –   Francois de La Rochefoucauld

 

 

 

 

 

May24

when in doubt, fly south.

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no, this is not another johnny cochran quote from that infamous trial, it is my motto for the day. another day, another day towards restoring my health. i’ve decided to go ahead and go on a long weekend getaway with my longtime girlfriends to the music friendly city of nashville, meds in tow, and super bugs be damned. i see this adventure as a sure to get well cure. i’ll keep you posted )