Terminal E: The postmodern asylum
sometimes when i'm bored i go to my favorite airport terminal in the world: terminal E, Houston, Texas. it's true. i have been in a lot of places in my day, but terminal E takes the cake (or the fajita tacos in this case. God bless Papasitos Cantina).
the airport is like my second home. i've been inhabiting terminals for years because my mother injected traveling into my blood (or maybe I'm an escapist as amanda says). i feel at home in airports it is the strangest thing i know.
however, since the events of this month's security concerns in Britain I have canceled two trips. i began to realize how the state of travel is now akin to psych wards. i'm just as familiar with the latter.
inpatient psychiatric treatment requires certain safety measures upon admission. included in this are body checks, removal of all personal items that contain strings/glass/sharp edges, and locking you in while taking most control away a person. it's safe, but it doesn't always feel very welcoming.
i'm beginning to feel that my obsession with travel is taking a significant and humiliating transformation. just like the patients who walk around with boat-like tennis shoes with no laces and lounge pants held up with rubber bands for draw-strings.
this week i have to leave town and i'm not looking forward to it, which is unfortunate. i anticipate that going through the rigamaroll of check-in and security will be forboding. it's just a matter of time before they take everything from us. like when patients' have makeup/foundation bottles, or mouthwash, then staff take it away just in case the patient uses the cap to cut themself or drinks the 22oz. Scope for it's alcohol content.
taking the personal items is safe, but it robs you of so much decency & dignity you begin to wonder if the stay is even worth it at all.
posted by Stephanie Willis, LCPC, CADC @ 22:30
6 Comments:
every true jettsetter will tell you it is sooooo worth it.
Why "postmodern" asylum? Is that word used just as a sign of the times, or did you mean something deeper about this cultural framework and its potential to sterilize our relationships?
where were you going?
Because I am a nervous flyer and I hate the people who bring a 20 pc. set of luggage on planes, I will be quite happy when they ban carry-ons of any type! Pack it all, I say!
regan: yes and yes. see below for further explanations. it's about time you finally left me a comment. i know your my closet #1 fan from afar. thanks for losing your comment virginity to a post about insanity.
liz: i was going where regan thought i was going. sorry for the ambiguity.
i was really speaking to the tension of loving travel but hating the security situation and the dichotomy that arises from that.
i don't want my plane to blow up so i want them to search my bags but its becoming so ridiculous. i feel like we're being stripped of dignity and decency going through TSA sometimes. take off your belt, take off your sweater, take off your shoes, peel off your skin and we'll make sure your not hiding anything.
just made me think of the psych unit sometimes and how in an attempt to promote safety we end up making them feel like animals held in cages. what support is that to our lives? are we really being helpful at all? are the restrictions benefiting us?
and i was thinking about how "sterile" life is becoming. and what an interesting post-modern, post-9/11 world we live in. that's where i was going. random-i know.
al-
i get your point. but i'm the spontaneous traveler who decides the night before that she'll leave the following afternoon. i survive on carry-ons because they divert me from lines so i can get on my way.
i travel at LEAST 1/month. i pride myself on the 1bag packing.
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