Normal

Originally Published Tuesday, November 19, 2013

The problem with photographing in America today is that people don't look like this any more.  Everybody is pretty or disgustingly normal.  They weren't always, though.  There used to be "character."  You can search for this face now and never find it, though I remember them from my childhood.  The south used to look like "Deliverance."  I went to school with people who that looked like that.  For a while.  They disappeared for the most part by high school.  What happened to them? 

Television, I guess. 

If you look a little off now, I guess, you become a goth or a hipster. 

But the fellow on "Girls" looks great.  He's a character.  I'm sure it is just the makeup team, though, and he looks handsome in the street.

I met a girl last night with a story to tell.  Jesus. . . it was horrible and went on and on and on.  I didn't get to bed until almost two.  I'm beat with it now.  Today will be a low-grade misery.  I'll tell her story sometime, but not today.  I couldn't stand it today. 

You don't want to be young.  I can't believe I am saying such a thing, but even they know it.  They tell me.  They are poor and dependent and when they can't be dependent any more, they starve.  If you are young today, you'd better hope your parents can help you.  I know some of them, too, the ones with parents who can help, parents who are doctors or attorneys or brokers.  They go to my Y.  Even them, though. . . you can see something askew in their eyes. 

But they look good.  Holy shit, they do.  They are smarter and better looking than ever, but they are dumber, too.  It is hard to figure out. 

One thing is true, though.   You can't find one who looks like the fellow above.  They all went the way of "The Andy Griffith Show."