Back from a week in New York... it's nice to be in a place where the outside world doesn't feel like such an assault. I'm a country girl for sure. I do wonder, though, if I could spend long enough in cities to get over the feeling that everyone's watching me. The more people there are, the less they notice each other. Just because you're observable doesn't mean you're observed. But of course the principle of the panopticon postulates that the possibility of observation is enough to control us, and it certainly works on me. I like to think about the connections between visibility and human power dynamics. By constantly commenting on women's appearance, we make certain they know they're observed, and that's enough to keep us careful, keep us second-guessing ourselves. Or am I generalizing unfoundedly? All I can say is that this is how I feel.