Car Culture Aside

During my last trip to Florida, as I traveled from towns such as Boca Raton and Boynton Beach to Miami and Fort Lauderdale, a cultural clash elucidated itself. As a New Yorker, and somewhat of tourist, I no longer could have camouflaged myself after leaving Miami for Boca. Pedestrian culture was substituted for car culture, and I found myself lost in the absence of sidewalks, as I was perched in the passenger seat of my friend’s 1995 Jaguar.  I now cannot remember the model he drove. Perhaps, that on its own attests to my removal from a familiar lifestyle at that moment. The only mid-day walking that I remember during my stay in his town of Boca was between the gas pump and the passenger seat. I developed a consciousness of my restlessness to go outside and do things, as my immobility of self soon convoked homesickness. Many towns, like my friend Dmitri’s, have relied on automobiles for transportation, and nurture a seemingly different lifestyle void of pedestrian culture. Attesting to the reciprocity of my experience, during his last visit to Brooklyn, Dmitri, who lived in New York for sixteen years, was distressed by all the walking he did when last visiting me. Apparently, we both suffered when we were removed from the lifestyles we are acculturated to.