Sometimes when I'm at Dundas and Yonge I look up at all the flashy advertisements they have have displayed there in huge, glittering billboards calling for your attention and feel remorseful for that waste of space. Personally, I feel like they should have something more productive other than advertisements placed up there, such as inspirational quotes, or something to promote the betterment of humanity.
I mentioned this to Leo at one time, and being the logical kind of person he is, he simply said, "Well, that doesn't generate profit does it?"
And that's what it all has come down to: how much money one thing makes in order to be a useful use of space. Which is depressing if you think about it. What happened to doing something selflessly in order to encourage each other to do something useful?
Subway musicians are kind of like that, even if they don't do what they do entirely for free (on average they get up to $10-$16 dollars in change an hour.) I have a favourite Subway musician who I unfortunately don't get to see a lot of. Last year when I had to suffer through morning commute because I didn't have the luxury of night classes, I would often pass by this Subway Musician in Spadina station. He's a very chubby old man with a white beard, bearing a huge resemblance to Santa Clause in overalls, a wind breaker and a guitar strapped in front of him. He would always be smiling. And yodeling. That was the best part, he would play the guitar and yodel at the same time.
He would steal your change with his smile. But seeing him there, yodeling his heart out at 9 a.m. (perhaps earlier) would always put a genuine smile on your face. That's sort of what I mean by putting up something more useful other than adds at Yonge and Dundas. Flashy advertisements makes you feel like you're a part of a big marketing scheme where all they want is your money. Subway musicians that yodel make you smile and feel better about yourself, perhaps making you more productive.
Yeah, just another rant. I'm still working on my presentation for Without A Name at the moment. It's hard, there's this whole essence of a real feminist struggle within the book, that women are given this stereotype in which they must confine in and going anywhere outside of that stereotype and breaking your silence will slowly kill you because you have been rejected and silenced. Sometimes causing you to commit infanticide (whoops. Just killed the ending of the book for you)
Posts
