Reading Notes - The Non-Place

My local non-place is the West Transfer Point.

Let me explain myself. I never ride the bus. I have a car here in Madison, so I just drive everywhere. Since I work at Weather Central, which is located on the east side of the WKOW building on the Southwest Side, I pass the West Transfer Point every time I work. So, last night, I decided to take time and head over there. Now, since I don't ride the bus, I have what you may call a bus stigma. In my opinion, I would always think that you'd find rather, how you say, "uncouth" people at the bus stop. But, I forage ahead nonetheless.

I flet weird sitting there. Who sits at a bus stop? People were just walking through, standing and waiting for their next bus, or running right up to the one that had already arrived. This is the difference between place and non-place. When you stay at a location and become connected with it, it becomes a place. The only people that stay at bus stations are vagrants. I am no vagrant, let me tell you.

So, I continued onward, watching people come and go. There really was no talking, just kinda like how you would stand in an elevator looking straight forward. This is the epitome of the non-place. There's just no connection to it!

After a while, I got bored and just had to leave. I get creeped out by people being in close proximity to me too, so I was a bit uncomfortable as it was pretty busy at that hour. So, there's my non-place. With no connection to the location, anything can be a non-place, perhaps. But, any location can be a place. It truly is a grey area.