See America - Stay Inside!

I was given a unique opportunity when I attended a conference for work this week. Though it was just a short walk for me, most of the other attendees had just flown into the city. I have attended conferences before, but I've never had the chance to see one in my own city and to see how people react to it.

You would think that, given the opportunity to spend time in a new place, that people would embrace the chance to see the city and experience its quirks and charms. When sitting down for breakfast, I settled in to learn about my fellow convention-goers' experiences from the evening before. I was excited to hear the impressions of the city from the same people that were pleasantly surprised to find out that Kansas City isn't a wheat field the day before.

The first group of guys chime in. They went to the casino. They spent their night in a completely different city rich with opportunities for new experiences in a dark manufactured room playing card games and pulling a handle.

Another group? They went shopping. Assuming maybe they took in the magnificent Country Club Plaza, I listened intently for impressions. Nope. They went somewhere enclosed. I didn't inquire. They spent their time in a new place shopping at chain stores that they have at home.

Is this really what people want? People are treating entire cities as franchise locations, each one with the same offerings and the same things to pass the time. There is no need to try to see anything new as there is something predictable readily available. What does this mean to the identity of our great cities?

Sooner or later, someone will build a runway, a convention hotel, a casino and a mall all connected in the middle of the desert. Context doesn't matter. You've got everything you could ever want right there without the pesky temptation to actually see something new.

When did we get so lazy and completely lose our creativity? Genuine character is obsolete as the sense of discovery is all but dead. If it is worth seeing or doing, it will be marketed as such.

Far be it for anyone to ask for a bit more.