Aldous Huxley once wrote "Most men and women lead lives at the worst so painful, at the best so monotonous, poor and limited that the urge to escape, if only for a few moments is one of the principal appetites of the soul."Bleak? Maybe. True? Well, just get on the Monday morning subway and make your own judgment. How is it possible for so many people, crammed shoulder to shoulder, confined in oftentimes the most uncomfortable positions, to be so silent? Turn the IPod up, bury your face in your book, newspaper or magazine and try not to dwell on the fact that your weekend is over. Each is engaged in a very personal form of escape. But in trying to isolate ourselves and escape, if only for a moment or two, we all become participants in perhaps one of the biggest examples of mass avoidance.
* photo from Walker Evans
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