washworld

I'm in a Laundromat called washworld waiting for my industrial strength wash cycle to spin the ick out of my clothes. And today I'm sitting here with my computer sitting on a stool, listening to itunes and connected to a wireless internet connection. I like doing laundry. I like laundering as a public activity, I always have. I like the idea of water and people and community and soap and wash bins and rolly carts and the waiting that forces people to acknowledge one another. Or in previous days the hard work that created community between women and still does in certain places. I don't usually even care if my clothes are clean. But I like cleaning them.

As a kid laundromats were fun because my sister and I would roller skate around in circles to accordion tunes played by our kindergarten teacher Mr. Rothrock. In college I studied while my clothes rode round in circles before I pulled them out and stuck my face into the pile of warm goodness and took a deep breath. In Boulder I eavesdropped on Spanish conversations to keep up on my skills. I was unemployed during those days so I would spend the rest of the time making grocery lists or lists of things to do or books to get from the library.

In Colorado when I visit my aunt and uncle we make a ritual of hanging our clothes on the line behind the house in the tall grass. Sometimes we have to run outside as summer monsoons approach and threaten to un-dry our clothes, but sometimes we take down the clothes one by one and fold them into the baskets as we go. They smell of the mountains and grass and ozone, though they are still stiff and wet in the pockets.

In Japan we washed our shoes in special shoe washing machines and dried them in special shoe driers. We washed our clothes by trying to decipher the kanji and drank chu-hui (alcohol in a can) from vending machines while listening to Crosby Stills and Nash.

It is crazy to think how far the washworld has come. From washboards to space washers and wireless internet connections. I prefer the roller skates and accordions, the chu-hui and clotheslines but I like it all just the same.