I am not a pilgrim.
Los Angeles is not my Mecca.
It is a sucking vortex.
It’s also a place where everything is about big. Big time,
big tent, big screen, big break, big big big baby!!
That's a whole lot of big for such a cramped space.
I was there last week, and I stayed in the Bonaventure Hotel.
Long story.
The Bonaventure is Los Angeles epitomized. It defines the LA skyline, and it’s fair to say that it’s an iconic landmark. It’s also climate controlled and hermetically sealed. A terrarium. In the middle of the lobby is a desert garden with bamboo and ferns springing up across a dry stonescape that runs around the lounge and bar and elevators.
Sparrows have made this indoor garden their home. They flit around the tourists’ suitcases and in and out of the shop doors. They eat handouts from the continental breakfast buffet, and they get their water from the dripping bar sink. They nest in the bamboo and raise chicks who will never breathe air that isn’t climate controlled.
I am not that kind of sparrow.
The sparrows are leading a life of captivity and they don't even know it. How ironic.
ReplyDeleteI can see why your not that kind of sparrow. You're too much of a free spirit.
Nice post. Makes you think.
Thank you, Dave! You're right - those sparrows find themselves in a very profound situation.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand.... A bunch of OCD LA types tried to create their vision of a perfect world. They walled it in with glass and steel to keep out all that were not invited. And the sparrows, the ones the bible said were two for a penny or some such thing. Ordinary birds, common birds, of no special significance. But they got in and took over. So maybe there is hope.
ReplyDeleteI love this idea, Ken. Especially because, as you point out, sparrows are so consistently underestimated.
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