jason penner takes pictures of your bubba
I recommend out Jason Penner’s Flickr photostream. Lately he’s been posting lots of surreptitious public shots he’s taken around Winnipeg, especially at retail locales in the city.
My favourites are the ones he’s taken of the Bay basement grocery store, a place I shop often. The grey-haired grannies and walkers are very representative of the population of the place!
Notice the price of bananas. Lately at Safeway they haven’t been lower than 85 cents/pound! The Bay basement is usually cheaper than Safeway.
This is the honey aisle. I know it well. This kerchiefed granny makes me think about a conversation I had with my friend Cam the other week. We were talking about my penchant for maximalism and growing distaste for minimalism, or more accurately, the way its followers tend to hold some kind of moral superiority over those of us who really enjoy surrounding ourselves with tchotchkes. Cam talked about how he laments what he feels is the impending death of “Bubba culture,” the tradition of the grandmothers who live in mid-century houses, alone, for their husbands have usually long passed on, as is the way of things. They surround themselves with doilies and handmade afghans and litter their sideboards and shelves with framed family photos. They joyfully feed their visitors — if they are in good health, homemade cinnamon buns and perogies; if they are in poor health, storebought shortbread, no less lovingly served than its from-scratch counterpart.
I’m hesistant to quote Cam directly, but he said something about dreaming of living in a home full of cat figurines, just as a way of relishing and preserving the Bubba phenomenon, which may (or may not be) expiring.
