Sunday, July 17, 2005

The Kitchen Is The Soul Of Our Home




Pennies and Lemons
Cambridge, MA
July 2005


The Kitchen In Summer
Cambridge, MA
July 2005

em0 and i recently interviewed prospective roommates for the fall. the person we chose is getting help from her mother to pay the rent, so mom insisted on seeing the apartment. the interview was mildly uncomfortable because i felt that our lifestyle was judged negatively. the mother expressed pity and concern for us because we live in an apartment with no living room.

i dislike the way that shared apartments with living rooms revolve around the television. i've never experienced a group living situation where the presence of a television in the common space didn't negatively impact the household. even if the living room started out tv-free, a roommate always eventually bought one for it. those apartments became places full of irritating and meaningless sound, such that they were strangely and oppressively silent.

our kitchen is small and cramped like our apartment. admittedly, we do live in a little dump of a place. nevertheless, the tightness of the space has benefits that one who is used to palatial accomodations would never expect. one can adjust to the absence of empty space and learn to live closely with others as long simple courtesies are observed. it's impossible to feel lonely, and our home is abuzz with the traffic of words.

2 comments:

laura k said...

What a lovely post. And what a cogent observation about living rooms and TVs. So very true!

Emily2, if you were serious and would like a copy of that article, please email me.

FM said...

we don't need no stinkin' living rooms. here in manhattan, we make two bedroom apartments by putting up drywall in studios! RRAWR!