In a rare turn of events, my girls and I made a trip to the Mall today. That's right. The MALL!
We don't really ever go to the Mall. Because these days (other than for people-watching purposes), there's not much reason to go there since everything we need can be easily found elsewhere. But today we had a gift card and some free time, so off we went to the unhappiest place on earth.
This is not to say that we weren't happy. We had a lovely time, to be honest! But the Mall is not a place that makes people happy. It's a place that tries to make you feel like you're not quite cool enough so they can sell you a bunch of
I remember taking a freshman seminar class in college, and we all had to buy this book of compiled essays by a bunch of the professors (great way to get published and to guarantee a large-scale sale of your books!). There was one essay titled "The Malling of America." I really don't remember anything noteworthy about the essay except for the title, but I think that now, 15 years later (gasp! how did that happen?) it seems that we are in the age of de-malling America. This is not to say that we're not still very consumer-oriented, but simply to note that there seems to have been a shift toward more local shopping centers/plazas over malls, and definitely a huge increase in online shopping. Also, it seems likely to me that malls have higher crime rates than regular shopping centers/free-standing movie theatres because of the 'hang out' element of malls. But since theology is more my thing than consumer trends, I welcome feedback from y'all, both in and out of America!
Speaking of this, welcome to today's readers, who've hailed from USA, Japan, Germany, Spain, Ethiopia, Malaysia, Slovakia, Turkey, Ukraine, and South Africa!
As always, thanks for stopping by, and be assured of my prayers.
Peace and all good,
Leslie
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