I am fascinated by shopping malls. Not strip malls mind you, indoor ones. Huge, shiny ziggurats of  consumption and excess. The echoing laughter of teenagers, the ca-chinging of cash registers, the smell of hot pretzels, Taco Bell and Hickory Farms. Heaven on earth to me. I exaggerate of course but the truth is that I think shopping malls are incredible microcosms of whatever society they are part of.

I believe that the fascination began during my teenage years. The mall was like a home away from home. My friends and I had no money to spend, but it was where life happened. Too young for the bar scene, too old for the playground. For parents, the mall is like a test world. They are more willing to let their kids go to the mall because it's freedom in a fairly controlled environment. For kids, it's freedom period. They say what they want, make their own food choices and have only the watchful eye of the security staff to be wary of.

Mall-rat culture (which I actually did a sociological study of in college) is very interesting. I was always amazed that it worked the same way for every pack of mall-rats. One group of females or males will follow a group the other sex at a safe distance. This is done with no attempt to be covert. After a while, if both parties are interested, an emissary from each party will meet in nuetral territory and agree to join packs. Then, if all is well, the groups will pair off into individual courting groups. As the rats get older, they will use the mall as a pre-determined meeting place. Remember the parents? The mall is a nice loophole in the "too young to date" rule. It's not a date, we met up at the mall. This usually happens in smaller groups.

Some interesting observations but the truth is: I just like malls.

As I have travelled more in my adult life, I can rarely resist the call of the local mall, even if only for a quick walk through. With this section of the website I will write about various malls I visit in my travels. I will let you know which ones are must sees and which ones are best avoided. Hell, there might be some actual journalism involved too. God knows I've let that go for quite a while.