East of Eden, South of San Francisco

I haven't updated for a few days, but a lot has happened since I left Arcata. I wrote this a couple days ago:

A brief reflection on life on the road, the homogenization of American culture, and the great gift of the internet.

I spent yesterday following the black ribbon through some of the largest trees on the planet. I learned how to drive like a Californian. I passed through both the trunk of the Chandelier Tree, an enormous structure of nature, and the Golden Gate Bridge, a gigantic structure of man. I felt the fury of the ocean. I sat in rush hour traffic in the suburbs. I got lost in San Francisco. Is this what it means to be an American?

The drive down highway 101 was exhilarating, and I often found myself hollering like a cowboy ("Yeeehaaaww!") as I sped through the torrential downpour towards SF. I was really lucky to stay with my friend Emily, who I met at Holden. She's a resident minister at the University of San Francisco. She had to catch a train to Reno at the buttcrack of dawn. So, I had an early start out of the town of 4-way stops, hills, and interesting architecture. I'm hoping to head back soon.

Here’s my life right now: I started driving at six this morning, and pulled off when I became too sleepy. The town that I pulled into is none different than Salinas, the setting of John Steinbeck’s epic, East of Eden. Steinbeck paints this valley as one of near paradise. And it might have been, but when I pulled off the highway, I navigated through a maze of car dealerships until I found a Burger King parking lot where I could nap in my car. To me, none of these things come close to my view of an ideal setting. Nowhere is safe from these poisonous corporations that have crept their way into every small town in the U.S.; they continue to destroy our forests and our oceans and our health, and duh, they control our political system.

So, why did I support the burger giant and buy an iced tea (even though I mixed the unsweetened black and sweetened green teas, it’s so saturated with fructose that it’s nearly intoxicating)? That’s a question that I’m asking myself as well. Here’s the answer: they have a sign that said “Free WiFi.” It’s really slow, and worse than Holden’s connection, but still, do you realize what this means? Assuming they have WiFi, Every Burger King is now an encyclopedia, video store, newsstand, bank, map, school, etc. Does everyone realize the potential of the internet? If you’re connected, you have access to all other human beings on the planet simultaneously, in a very physical way. Of course, we have always been spiritually connected, but now I can…oh, wait, let me text my friend in Hong Kong real quick. Wait, wut? Imagine that 100, 50, 20 years ago.

I remember my first time at the computer lab, in Kindergarten, sharing the screen with the Korean girl with bad breath. I remember seeing the internet for the first time, a dial-up when I was in second grade, at Kyle Bain’s house. His mom helped us look up Star Wars. I come from the generation that was born after the Berlin wall fell, the combination of the first and second worlds. A new world will be created by my generation, the post-Cold War kids. The Post War kids. We’re done with this.

I’m off to San Luis Obispo.