Sunday, August 12, 2012

Grab Some Bench

For nearly five years now, The Kreation Korner has called the Boise Bench home. From those halcyon days in 2007 until the present time, our operation has spread its tendrils far beyond our modest HQ, as if stimulated by a Kreative thigmotropism permeating the globe.  Nevertheless, the Bench kontinues to occupy a special place in the hearts of Kreationists near and far. What is it about this neighborhood we love so much? The list is long and may very well differ from unique individual to unique individual. We can all agree, however, that the Bench's unintentional patchwork of diverse denizens, architectural styles, business establishments and community institutions yields an authentic, gritty urban landscape--fertile ground for the Kreative process. Also, the cost of living is comparatively affordable. In our busy lives furthering the Kreative Kause, we can take for granted this paradise, despite our uncommon penchant for rigorous introspective. Fortunately, some higher konsciousness provides us with a wake-up call every now and then, such as the following photograph:


This plakard was spotted on a local public transit vehicle (aka "city bus"). Although its promotion of public participation is praiseworthy, its core assumptions are troubling.  Is the Bench's transportation infrastructure in need of a sprucing-up? Kreationists and families alike have gotten around with relative ease on the Bench for generations. Are sidewalks and bike lanes a much needed expressway towards Improvedqualityoflifeville? Or are they insidious avenues of ingress for the sterile, kreativity-killing palate of out-of-town redevelopers with dollar signs for irises? We concede that the environment (physical and otherwise) of a place in a given epoch is impermanent. We do not know how the Bench will change in the coming years, but The Korner stands poised to do what's in its purview to block the building of bourgeois bistros and boutiques and the baleful banality they'll bring. Peace.

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