I SELFIE, THEREFORE I AM

P1060965We have probably taken pictures of ourselves since photography’s inception–although those unwieldy instruments made it notably more difficult.

And I can readily recall numerous photos posing in front of this structure or landscape or at that event. But I do not recall the primary subject of our own photographs so often being ourselves.

The selfie is ubiquitous. It has become a validation of self: a necessary emblem that we exist.

FINDING MY WAY

P1060774After weeks of travel in distant lands, I have returned to an environment where the tongue I hear is mostly my own. I navigate comfortably through the mass transit and do not question the value of the bill I hold in my hand. The codes of conduct are not unfamiliar and my step is assured.

I wander into a neighborhood and seek a familiar landmark of which there are none. The nighttime casts shadows obscuring any signs to guide my way. The tearing up of asphalt with heavy machinery, glaring lights, cordoned streets, disorient my passage. The streets are barely navigable. I walk on avoiding the impromptu hazards. I walk on. The unfamiliar has yielded to the familiar once again.