August 11 - Coffee Dawg

"Hell is - other people!"

~ Jean-Paul Sartre, No Exit

Sartre was not simply saying other people were awful.

He was talking about how being observed by others changes the way we see ourselves.

Imagine you are alone in an elevator.  You're not particularly thinking about anything - just leaning against the wall, picking at the crumbs on your shirt, quietly humming the  song that's stuck in your head.  Whatever.  Being you.

Then the doors open and someone steps in.

Nothing about you has physically changed, but now there is another point of view in the room.  You become aware of yourself as something "viewed".  Do I acknowledge them?  Are they staring? Am I staring?  Well where should I look?  Why am I holding my hands like this?  

This is why we vertical commuters have collectively agreed upon the upward number gaze.

This is a color day BONUS balloon!
Celetex Coffee