The Dead City (May 3)

             I just spent day two days at one of the craziest places in the Cleveland Area. Randall Park Mall is a monstrosity with 2 million square feet of retail space and massive parking lots. It is also a "dead mall", meaning that it has no open stores and is falling apart. As for the latter point, there is no doubt that Randall has seen better days. Weeds grow out of gaps in the sidewalks. There are cracked windows and doors. The loading bays have piles of trash in them.

                I felt some sort of strange serenity walking around the mall. It was not entirely quiet; geese from the rooftops observed my every move and relayed to other geese in the area. I could still hear the faint sound of the highway in the distance, but I did not really notice it while photographing and taking audio samples. Looking back, I feel like people avoid the place. I thought that I would see some skateboarders using the empty space to practice their tricks, or driving students practicing the orange cone backup routine. I saw none of these. I did not even see many signs of gangs or the homeless using the space. I do not remember seeing any graffiti or that much recent garbage. All of the garbage looked old and was probably thrown out when the mall closed.