Beyond the Solar System
What is it like on the outside of our solar system?
———- from Christopher King of Markham, Ontario
Have you ever been to a shopping center at the edge of a city that has suffered an economic downturn, and has actually lost population? Many a city in the Rust Belt has the ambiance, this extra-solar system feeling that makes an Oklahoma Trailer Court seem like Times Square. The only people you see are senior citizens taking health walks, and every store has a huge banner reading “Sale” plastered across the front window, even if there’s nothing for sale inside. A lone security guard naps in front of a small black and white television. The wind is always howling, and somewhere far off, an car alarm is incessantly honking.
Have you ever been to a shopping center at the edge of a city that has suffered an economic downturn, and has actually lost population? Many a city in the Rust Belt has the ambiance, this extra-solar system feeling that makes an Oklahoma Trailer Court seem like Times Square. The only people you see are senior citizens taking health walks, and every store has a huge banner reading “Sale” plastered across the front window, even if there’s nothing for sale inside. A lone security guard naps in front of a small black and white television. The wind is always howling, and somewhere far off, an car alarm is incessantly honking. 