Visula Symbols, take 2

A while back I did a little exercise where I examined the visual symbols that are prevalent in my life. It's not a bad post, you should go back and read it.   Well, this time I have another round of new ones.

By KMJ

1.  Bottlecaps.
A very good friend of mine is about to graduate, and I'm going to miss him terribly.  Before he's leaving though, he gave me an old table that he and I spent about a year collecting bottlecaps to cover the top.  So many of them are mine that I can look back and think, "when did I have that?" and I'll remember.  I spent so much time asking people for caps when we together that I can remember who I was with at the time when I look at the table:  The Guiness Extra Stout I had with my Dad over the Four of July, The Miller Chills from my little brother's graduation party last May, the Goose Island IPA I bought when we had our barbecue. 

The Bottlecaps represent the time I've spent with the people I love.  Its a chronology of the good times I've had with them over the last couple of years, and it makes the table more than just a cool conversation piece.

All nostalgia aside, it is a pretty rad table, though.

2.  Sonic The Hedgehog

Sonic, from the video games made by Sega back in the nineties.  Don't pretend you've never played.  I played a lot of Sonic Games back on the Sega Genesis, back when there was a lot at stake by making a choice, either you chose Mario, and Played Nintendo, or you played Sonic and the Genesis.  Such a simple time, the nineties.

It was kind of sad to see Sega stop making consoles in the early 2000's, to watch Sonic fade out of popularity as Sega tried in vain to recapture what made the games so much fun when they were 2D.  Sonic is kind of my symbol for the loss of optimism that began as I grew up, and the slow fade into being an adult, and losing what made your childhood so fun.  I probably put way too much emphasis on my past.

3.  Cottonwood Trees

About a week after I graduated high school, I moved out of my house and out to South Dakota.  I worked in the state parks, and I was always kind of in awe of these huge trees along the river.

This semester I had a Personal Essay class, and when it came time to write an essay on place, I wanted to write about my time in Pierre.  I never could get the essay right, but every time I tried, my mind chanted, The cottonwoods, the cottonwoods.  There was something about them that represents being on my own for the first time, finding somewhere to call home.