!Empower!

every inch we drive on the road, recontextualizes the fabric of my reality, expanding what I thought or knew to be comprehendable(just made up this word) in my mind. Driving constantly into a new unknown and observing it does wonders for a mind in contemplation. combining my previous absolute knowledge and then adding in new reality is a trip. It makes you realize that certain you things in your life that you took for granted and just figured was how things were, are just actually are perceptions and that there is no substitute for experience in life. You can hear others' stories about certain events, places, people, and take that as the truth, or you can go out and experience it yourself and create your own view of reality. I think it's hitting me hard, because i'm realizing how much I've been controlled by the mass mediated outlets i've grown up with, and how much I've bought into the stereotypes and perceptions created by them.

Just visiting Texas and having been able to stay there for an extended amount of time and kind of blend into the community in the way and create my own relationships with the its people have made me reconfigure a lot of my thinking as far my own identity and the nuances of the human relationship.

Today we are driving through Oklahoma in a bit of a snowstorm and had one of those reality meeting perception. We stopped at Taco Mayo, the Oklahoma equivalent of Taco Bell and when we went inside, a couple customers were speaking to the manager eveident that they knew him. I looked on the walls, and it had personal pictures of the staff in endearing poses and the manager's photo in the middle like the brady bunch/hollywood squares design, signifying a tight knit staff, but yet something more than that, almost like a family.The song playing in the background was a Countryesque Christian Rock Ballad with the singer belting out the chorus, "Preecccccccioooouuusssss JEEEEEEEEEEEESUS!". Observing the vibe of the staff, they continued to exude a real familiarity and comfort with each other, and exemplified to me a type of warm small town vibe. After we took off, we had trouble getting the RV out of the parking lot while snow was falling down, yet comes out the manager spotting our trouble and helps us navigate out. It was just small moment in time, just another day for those workers, but for me, it was a chance to juxtapose my everyday life, subleties,and existence as I see it in California through the simple experience of going to a fast food joint, and seeing the values and actions of a life completely different to yours. I never thought id think so much because of fast food.