Possible rendezvous links
Diana
TB
10x40
Simone
The things
Ellen
Eric
M & S
AW
June
MM
Rick
Kerry
MSG
Gnat
James
Nick
Bob

Paths of Interest
Incite!
Manushi
EPW
SSA
Comunidad de Paz
MER
Feministe
Permanent Black


Archives

 
Here it is the end of November and still not one derive. I think I'm gonna have to change the name of this blog. I did give it a try the other night though-Larin & I set off to get to know the passional terrain of this town, curious about where the it would take us once we let go of our getting from place A to B mentality, eyes and hearts open and attentive to its psychogeographical ambience. About 5 minutes into it, though, we got hit by the most terrible smell ever. It smelled like spoiled bread rising and was so dense and close that it felt like we were caught inside the dough. At first we laughed it off-L who has the most discerning nose ever had complained about it before but I had never been able to smell it, so at last we could talk about it together instead of me just thinking it was a pregnancy thing. Anyway, we tried to endure it as part of the derive, but just couldn't and ended up running back home to get online to figure out what the hell it was. We looked up south bend + unbearable smell on google and got directed to Melissa's blog, oops no to this site that explains that it is the ethanol plant outside of town. I thought that it was crazy that this ethanol thing that is supposed to be one of our environmental saviors could be the source of the terrible stink but sure enough, after talking to my friend in Madison, WI (who is an environmental lawyer and is trying to fight an ethanol factory from being surreptitiously put up there) I learned that the factories are very bad but since they don't have many ideas about alternative energy sources they just keep building them. It's funny that no one here talks about the smell much-and when I bring it up, they say "oh yeah"-I guess you get used to it and its not so noticeable when you stay inside.

I was thinking of this as a failed derive, but now as I write about I think that it was successful, even if very very short. The SI talk about psychogeographical maps , but what I think what we got was more of the beginnings of a "senso-geographical" map of the town. What had been just a background presence, suddenly leapt into the olfactory foreground, for better or worse. Now the question, from a SI perspective, is how to "rectify and improve" that map. Anybody have any ideas? Maybe I could hang scented fake flowers under a sign that says "ethanol factory stink buster blossoms" that people can grab when they want to go for a walk…

On to more derives, then, hopefully when the wind is blowing a different direction. I'm also going to try out their idea of the "possible rendezvous." Here's how they describe it:

"In the 'possible rendezvous' the element of exploration is minimal in comparison with that of behavioral disorientation. The subject is invited to come alone to a specified place at a specified time. He is freed from the bothersome obligations of the ordinary rendezvous since there is no one to wait for. But since this 'possible rendezvous' has brought him without warning to a place he may or may not know, he observes the surroundings. It may be that the same spot has been specified for a 'possible rendezvous' for someone else whose identity he has no way of knowing. Since he may never have even seen the other person before, he will be incited to start up conversations with various passersby. He may meet no one, or he may by chance meet the person who has arranged the 'possible rendezvous.' In any case, particularly if the time and place have been well chosen, the subject's use of time will take an unexpected turn… one can see the virtually unlimited resources of this pastime."

posted by cricket at 9:56 AM