Jas
September 21, 2000

Society in the Wash

This is an old thought of mine, actually, about 3 months old, and I haven't really devoted as much time to develop the idea that I should have. I'm not even sure if this is a good topic to bring up, but I've been meaning to bounce it off an audience for a while, and so here we go.

Are you a racist if you separate your colors from your whites in your laundry?

Just think about it. I mean, don't the thoughts of segregation and civil rights come to mind? Just like the old laundry commercials used to show: One red sock in your whites, and everything is pink. Is this simply a coincidence or are there more ideas hidden deeper within than we see on the surface?

Separation of colors and whites
Schools before integration?
The addition of a new red sock
The amalgamation of America into a single "race" over time?

Then again, most of my clothes have been through the ringer so many times that there is no excess color to bleed off into anything else. So for most of my loads, it's ok to wash everything together. Could this be compared to a taming of racist ways?(maybe this is looking more into the future than trying to decipher) Or, maybe it just represents how people can hide their true feelings.

Maybe we can apply the laundry scene to other factors that define a society:

Using detergent to rid a stain from your shirt
Punishing/rehabilitating criminals?
Doing your wash every week
How society regenerates itself through each generation? New clothes are added and some are thrown away as time goes by?
Washing and drying as a whole
A cleansing process? Personal changes?
Some clothes drying faster than others
Some people like to rush things, others take their time
Turning printed t-shirts inside out before washing to prevent fading of the print
Trying to retain your unique views while being thrown in with a group of others?

Any other situations that can be compared to society/life in general?

Jas

P.S. New Orleans/Mardi Gras 2000 pics/journal coming next week!

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