Pleasure to Serve

I have to express here, at the front, the obsession I had with the United States—pre-habitation and whilst inhabiting. I love the unabashed, loud, proud, say-it-again, winners and losers, money-hungry, power-driven, power-obsessed, over-observed and over-disseminated parts of the US. I love the flags on Wall Street, the palm trees of Sunset Boulevard, the park rangers of Utah and the horseriding cops of Wyoming. I wore stars and stripes; I saw stars and stripes. I drank the Cool Aid in every flavour from every corner.

This cup is my first ode to New York City, to the US. It was something I first saw I think on Law and Order, which is strange as I don’t watch that show. But I knew it represented Manhattan, before I knew anything else about it. Just as a red solo cup represented American Collages - so that too I needed in my life. 

What I love about this simple bodega coffee cup, is it’s lack of importance in relation to the city, yet it’s significance to a pair of eyes who wanted so badly to be there. A relic from TV, from a fantasy that was real, and that I now held. Now I was part of the fantasy.