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   Paul Cantrell (inthehands@hachyderm.io)'s status on Friday, 26-Jul-2024 22:47:45 JST Paul Cantrell

   in reply to

   • Voline
   • Clive Thompson

   @clive @Voline
   +1 to the essay.

   I once worked a software contract out in the western suburbs of the Twin Cities, and one day decided to take a weekday afternoon walk through the nearby residential neighborhood.

   It was like The Day After. Dead. Neat houses, trimmed lawns, and not a single other living animal.

   It wasn’t until I finally saw another person that I realized I’d started tensing my shoulders and taking shallow breaths. Completely creeped me out.

   • Embed this notice
     Clive Thompson (clive@saturation.social)'s status on Friday, 26-Jul-2024 22:47:46 JST Clive Thompson

     The suburbs considered as ...

     ... the Backrooms: https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2022/1/13/american-suburbs-are-a-horror-movie-and-were-the-protagonists

     A terrific essay in which the author -- who lives in the Austin suburbs -- considers why she feels creeped-out and uncertain when walking through her suburb at night to a grocery store a few miles away ...

     ... and realizes it's because it feels precisely like one of the "liminal spaces" people share online