I love Waffle House but I’m forced to wrestle with its problematic history. The food is often cheap and unhealthy, there are racial incidents, murders, a sexual harassment scandal between the CEO (the founder’s son) and a housemaid, bright lights that mess with the circadian rhythm, and financial connections to groups that deny climate change. If I believe this place to be toxic, why keep going? Why make art there? Why not remove myself completely from the black and yellow?
In 2018 I started a ritual of ordering three eggs scrambled and decaf coffee and making a drawing on a napkin. I photographed the small meal and the receipt which I soon realized was almost never a consistent price. I performed this action 39 times total because I always work in multiples of 13. The drawings are a variation of a style that I use to evoke warm memories of the rhythmic sewing machines my mother used regularly. For me they are meditative, automatic, and healing. This is how I resist the effects of the disturbed Waffle House landscape.
I recently came across the word, “ruderal,” which refers to a plant species that grows in disturbed landscapes, often ruined by humans. You’re probably familiar with this concept if you’ve seen an image of a flowering plant growing out from the rubble. That image is admittedly bordering on trite at this point, however, the necessity for surviving and thriving within a wasteland is becoming increasingly relevant in completely new ways.
We can’t escape decay, corruption, or pollution and we shouldn’t try to escape if we are complicit in their existence. To fix these problems there needs to be changes on a scale far beyond our individual selves. In the meantime, one can embrace rituals, routines, and rules that focus the attention and remove distractions. A ritual is an exercise. Through repetition comes growth that negates the corrosive forces seeking to harm our wellbeing. Let intentionality be a fortress. Paradoxically, constraints can often enhance spontaneity and absurdity. The odd bits of life are treasures that get suppressed by over-stimulation. Actively accept silence and boredom. You can train yourself by experimenting with various forms of meditation. If this doesn’t work try going to Waffle House, ordering 3 eggs scrambled and decaf coffee, and drawing on the napkin.