Jerry Large in today’s Seattle Times writes about the Fry’s that is coming to Renton:
In techie heaven lies a temple to man’s ingenuity .
Quote:
I’m one of those folks who got excited about the coming of Fry’s Electronics to Renton.
I’m a little nervous admitting to you that I enjoy wandering around Fry’s, because I don’t want you to think I’m a crass materialist or anything like that.
I believe in simple living, and I think most of us have way too much stuff and certainly I don’t think that technology is the answer to all of our problems and, boy, do I hate meaningless, uncontrolled consumption.
I’m down with the Seattle ethos, but part of that is a belief in moderation in all things, including moderation.
And anyhow, in some ways the store is a spiritual sanctuary. It’s a shrine to one kind of human creativity, a technology temple. ..
Whenever I (Julie) think about Fry’s, I remember the store. It felt like a zoo of anything techie, from chips to TVs, packed from floor to ceiling. But mostly I think about the first home we bought, which was in a neighborhood close to the Campbell Fry’s. If we wanted to, we could have walked there (although we probably always drove). And this store was a temple indeed, with Egyptian theme. We even took a baby book picture of Abigail, weeks old, being held by her daddy in the parking lot of Fry’s.
Almost four years after moving away, I can still see the street that flowed to Fry’s, first past the little park with colorful toddler toys, a baseball field, then around the corner, past the rows of homes with backyards bordering on the highway. I can remember walking on that street with a friend, each of us with our babies, our first children then, walking together and talking about birth. The sun is shining and we are strolling through our neighborhood, taking our time, sharing our feelings, our little ones, and the sights of homes and gardens. It is a simple memory.
Sure, Fry’s is a shrine to creativity. A celebration of creativity, one might say! But there I am thinking instead of my baby girl, a celebration of creativity as well, also a spiritual temple in her own right 🙂
And in my memory of our neighborhood near Fry’s, I find myself thinking about the value of “simple living” , as Large mentions – and thoughtfully described by Mad Times in Complexity (a response to a Donald Norman essay that I mentioned earlier this week). Lots to think about – and to learn to live out, with wisdom.
