The Orphanage

On the way there, I pointed out a billboard for a new history channel show about life after humans. It seems the history channel has become expert at the important skill of remembering the future. The guy driving- I wish I could remember his name- said, "It's like we're over ourselves. We're ready for the next thing." We made jokes about how the human condition has been done, played, the horse is dead- you can show reruns, but there's no need to keep beating it.

Horse aside: A lot of expressions were once something you might say literally in the context from which it came. What I want to know is, was there ever a time when someone might say, "You're wasting your energy Jim, that horse is dead." When is it a good use of energy to beat a live horse? This isn't an animal rights thing, I'm just confused. I guess it could be about horse racing. Maybe it's such a good expression, that after the first time someone said it, it's rise to idiomatic stardom was unstoppable. I wonder if it will fade as horses occupy less time in the media and our minds. A lot of their camera time came from being "noble steeds," but these days are steeds are made of metal, eat gasoline intead of hay, go really fast, and usually don't get named by their owners. So what's happened to the cowboy? I'm not sure, but I'll say this: Last night I watched a few hands of professional poker. Cowboys outnumbered non-cowboys 3.5 to 2.5 (one guy had a mixed aesthetic).

We arrived at the Orphanage. It's capitalized, because it's not actually a place where parentless children eat porridge and are in bed by 8. It's a place on the south side of Chicago where on Sundays, you can pay $10 at the door and then spend the rest of the night enjoying amateur bands and yummy, mostly vegan food. A girl tossing a flag around, sometimes to the music, sometimes to her own beat, says "Welcome to the Orphanage," when you come in. The bands I saw were talented and expessive. The dance floor was generally occupied by just 1 or 2 people, but they all put on great shows. The first dancer was a fantastic hula-hooper. She had a fluidity and trust with the hoop that reminded me of some pairs of swing dancers I've seen. Next up was an older guy in a mostly young crowd. He was also the only dark-skinned black person there. He had been sitting alone on one side of the room until he got up to dance. He boogied his heart out, loving the music and the attention. If you'd tweaked the context a little- made him your uncle, made it your high school, tinged the environment with more negative judgement- it could have been a cringe-worthy affair. But it was a relaxed place that offered a respite from the snerks and sneers of some other worlds. I heard somewhere that your body needs waking rest in addition to sleep. The Orphanage rested a part of me that I can't put my finger on, but was probably working overtime. Humans have been mapped over and over, but some muscles you don't know about until they relax.