Many of the camps in the Philmont backcountry are remote, and the young men and women who staff them are deprived of movies, restaurants, and many of the other trappings of modern culture (though I did notice a fair number of volumes of Harry Potter and the Half-blood Prince). Those who staff the backcountry camps work nine days, then take three days off. I asked one of them what he did with his days off, and the first thing he mentioned was visiting the nearest Wal-mart in Taos, New Mexico. What did he do there? Mostly just hung out, munched at the snack bar, and looked for new music.
When I mentioned this to one of my fellow campers from Arkansas, he told me that he recently had a first date that consisted of roaming around the local Wal-mart Super Center. He denied responsibility, saying that his date has suggested it. At least he could see the humor in it.
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.typepad.com/services/trackback/6a00d8345157d569e200d8348404ce69e2
Links to weblogs that reference Wal-Mart as Cultural Phenomenon:
1. Posted by Scott S. on July 24, 2005 @ 14:03 | Permalink
Bored College Kids at Wal*Mart (WSJ, 2/23/05).
It seems that a lot of these smaller towns have a Wal*Mart and not much else, so that's what the kids do for fun. Scavenger hunts, races through the aisles, etc. And the store managers aren't going to complain, because they need the kids' business.
2. Posted by Dave Hoffman on July 24, 2005 @ 14:41 | Permalink
I know lots of couples who have "nights out" from their kids at Target. Never heard of the Wal-mart date; but at least it was a super center!
| Sun | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |||
| 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 |
| 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 |
| 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 |
| 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 |
