You fediverse people are the one bastion of the internet not owned and manipulated by corporate interests at the moment and I am grateful for that. I am glad that you folks are out there. I do feel like too many bloody chunks of my spirit were torn out by the Musks of the world, to the degree that I barely exist online any more, but it warms my cold soul a bit to know that the community here still rocks. Thanks for that.
I used to want to participate and be a part of online communities and now I just post a photo here and there and dip out because every place I've ever felt a part of burned to the ground. That's not something I like or feel good about, btw, but I also have a really hard time "being myself" anywhere and seeing rich douches torch my home again and again makes it so hard to invest energy in rebuilding. Especially when energy is so hard to come by. The internet is a goddamn mess right now.
This isn't a knock on the fediverse - I have tremendous respect for the community here, or I wouldn't even post this - but the cratering of social media by oligarchs in the last year or five just makes me so unbelievably sad sometimes. These incredible communities have been destroyed by greed and it makes it so hard to invest emotionally in anything any more. This is particularly hard when you're an introvert & those spaces were a huge support. I wonder how many, like me, just haven't recovered.
Movie palaces had their own day of reckoning in the late 1970s and 1980s - but now, even our contemporary cinema chains are endangered. Find out why so many are being abandoned in my new Decay Theory article for Atlas Obscura! https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/abandoned-america-theaters
The formerly abandoned Bell Labs building in Holmdel, NJ. At one point slated for demolition, the historic site has since been turned into Bell Works, a multi-use complex that was the filming location for the series Severance.
Originally a gold mining town with 8,000 residents, Bodie, California was essentially abandoned by the 1940s. In 1962, it was incorporated into California's Department of Parks and Recreation, which helps maintain the grounds and keeps them open so they can be enjoyed by 200,000 yearly visitors. The remaining buildings are kept in a state of arrested decay.
We place such a premium on adhering to social norms that many of us who can never meet them hate ourselves for it. Those norms revolve around production of goods, services, the mirage of profitability. We try so hard to meet that standard even though the reality is that it is sometimes impossible.
The love of ruins requires the acceptance that this is *not* always possible, and that is okay. Pain, loss, and failure are part of life. If you're hurting, you're not the only one.
The important thing about finding beauty in ruins isn't showing off where you've been or what a daredevil you are. It's not about being cool, to me at least.
It's the tacit acknowledgement that "functional" isn't the only normal state, that normalcy is in fact itself an illusion. Places are scarred by what they endure. So are people.
They are still worthy of love. Forgotten, silent, unacknowledged though they may be. Even with the scars, perhaps because of them. We still deserve understanding
I'm Matthew Christopher, creator of the Abandoned America website, podcast, and book series about the beautiful and fascinating ruins in our midst. Photos are mine unless credited otherwise. Not a photo bot, so I post about other things from time to time.