city people

From Cary Tennis at Salon, writing about city people (some of it probably applies to all people)

"We who live in cities go about in zones of tacitly granted invisibility. We conduct our private business in full view of all, on buses and subways, on city streets and in cafes. We begin and end marriages. We seal business deals, talking on cellphones and e-mailing each other, all while pretending not to hear, not to pay attention to each other, not to be interested, not to be visible.

At the same time, we signal each other constantly in intricate codes of our own devising. We signal each other about how much money we make and where we live, what our political beliefs are and what groups we are attached to, whether we are single or married, sexually active or not, interested or not interested. We signal where we are going, whether to a party or to a friend's house, to a club or a museum, to work or to a workout. We watch each other's signals, trying to decode them. This happens in silence, with glances and gestures."