Laundromats seemed lonelier back then. In college, it was the most desolate place in the world. Sitting in a laundromat always felt like not being invited to a party. You sensed that other people—people more cool than you—were off somewhere laughing and drinking and getting laid, while you sat there uncomfortably on a bench watching your whites tumble around in a circle. Sitting in a laundromat insured that the second major appliance you bought was a washer and dryer.
You lost those in the divorce, but got a new set after the new marriage, and then lost those too. A cinnamon-colored set came with the condo you bought, unaware the economy would soon collapse. You lost those as well, along with the condo they came in.
And now here you are again, and it's not so bad. The bench is still uncomfortable, but you like the quiet hum of the dryer. Watching the clothes spin is a lesson in personal history. There's the aloha shirt you bought in Antigua on your second honeymoon. And there, the Elvis Costello tee shirt your first wife appropriated to wear while painting the kitchen, her hair knotted up in a continuously collapsing bun. And the pink Tiger Woods polo shirt you got for Christmas as a joke—you wore it anyway, and still wear it to lounge around in the apartment. It's faded now, barely pink at all, and torn under the left arm. But it's soft and it's comfortable. Like you thought your life was going to be.
Blog photograph copyrighted to the photographer and used with permission by utata.org. All photographs used on utata.org are stored on flickr.com and are obtained via the flickr API. Text is copyrighted to the author, Greg Fallis and is used with permission by utata.org.
Please see Show and Share Your Work on our submissions page.
We're delighted to announce that the UTATAN book is now available in both hardcover and softcover editions.
Yes, it's a bricks and mortar Utata. A real world tribal gathering place. Opening in October of 2008 in Windsor, Nova Scotia, Canada. Visit our site and see what we're about.
Our stories reveal who we are, both as individuals and as a group. The stories are diverse because our members are diverse; they're creative because we, as a group, are creative. We are Utata, and this is who we are.
A little chocolate, a couple of spoons, and thou beside me singing in the wilderness... It's the Rubaiyat of Iron Photographer....

He calls it 'animal focused street photography.' To me, that seems the perfect designation. What Giacomo Brunelli does isn't really wildlife photography, though many of the animals he photographs are undeniably feral. It's certainly not pet photography, although some of...
A special feature for Utata: Levi Asher looks through our 1000 Front Pages and discovers a thing or two about what makes this community a tribe.
Life is fun. You've got the picture to prove it. ~ Pentax Slogan