Air Conditioning Makes Strangers Of Us All
Posted: Sunday, October 02, 2011
by Octavia Hansen
Octavia Hansen
Before the days of air conditioning, people would get out of the house to take advantage of any cool breeze or diversion from hot weather. It was particularly popular in the South, to take an evening or early morning constitutional. On weekends, particularly after church when people were still well dressed, or along a promanade in a resort town or seaside village, there would be a parade of people nodding, waving and greeting each other as family, friends or friends yet to be.
Front porches are a thing of the past. Houses absorbed the square footage inside at the expense of the area outside. Some houses had a porch that went all the way around the house, this was particularly useful on rainy or snowy days. Later, these were screened, glassed or boarded in to make another room. A lot of socializing was lost, especially for young people who were not allowed to go out, but sit under the watchful eye of parents and elders.
Rocking chairs were standard furniture, whether indoors or out. Outdoors, a rocking chair was a release of nervous energy or a continuous rhythm of boredom while thinking or talking. Mothers used to sit and rock with their infants. The slow swaying motion would calm the child and still be a rest for mom. There was also a time when elderly musicians would rock and play, keeping time to the music, even if they weren't as spry as in their younger years.
The Cracker Barrel restaurant not only sports a huge porch for waiting before or after a meal, but hosts a chorus line of rocking chairs, roomy and comfy, for as long as you need to rock. After a big meal, and their food serving sizes border on massive, along the traditional lines of Southern Hospitality, you need to rock off some of that good feed. Thought I throw that in, makes waiting for a table or your food to settle a whole lot more fun using one of their rocking chairs. Evenings are particularly nice.
Another lost art is women using folding fans to cool off. There's an entire language of fans, flirting or waving someone away, a folding fan was a conversation spoken with the hands. Fans were quiet, artistic, paper or lace, a fashion accessory used in church and formal occasions. No debutant would step out without her fan and dance card. Summer was an elegant affair for the ladies.
All this changed in the late 50s and early 60s with the invention of the practical home air conditioner. What used to be dreadful living in the South for the entire Summer, beginning in late Spring and not ending until mid-Fall, became the good life. Unfortunately, windows closed, doors closed, rockers and porch swings now sat empty or were removed and no one could stand the heat ever again. This happened in every office, every car, every store, every place that needed to be cool.
When cars were fitted with air conditioners, windows closed on the world. People did not talk anymore. The best anyone could hope for in the heat of the summer was a passing wave. Radios came in and people would be forever isolated.
In the movie "Fahrenheit 451," they discovered a rocking chair, and it was mentioned that people would rock for hours and talk. In this movie, it was illegal to read. Even the credits at the beginning of the movie were read to you, not posted to read. And firemen started fires, not put them out. This film was a message about technology and the future, but it was a message was isolation. Air conditioning, not reading, caused everyone's isolation only a few years ago.
It's impossible to entertain the idea of ever returning to the days of blinding heat. You can't sleep, everything melted or was too hot to touch, plastics warped. Everything you touched burned your hand, made you thirsty. Driving was a nightmare, you were always damp and smelly from the sweat. On really hot days, you had a headache, you had to hold the steering wheel with a cloth or glove, there was no way to stay hydrated. Looks like the isolation will stay with the air conditioning. Something is gained, but something is always lost with technology. But it's cooler . . .
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Top-level comments on this article: (1 total)Love my A/C, but your point is correct, and the south has embraced the cooler air, while losing some of that Southern Hospitality under the Ceiling Fans...or daily walk.
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