Little Bricks vs. Large Bricks

In Mexico, there are some very tiny businesses. There may be a small papeleria that only sells stationary supplies and a carniceria for picking up meat for dinner. One woman and her daughter just sell a stack of jello to school children. It definitely takes more trips to get what you need, compared with conglomorized stores of America.

However, these little shops are evenly distributed everywhere, so there seems to always be one on your block or on the way to where you're going. I like the rhythm of traverssing this pedestrian fabric. Everywhere in the world, it is more pleasurable to have more entities that do less, rather than less entities that do more. Conglomerization creates efficiencies. Specializataion creates diversity and possibility.

Our friend Chris today pointed the difference out as: It's not that there isn't culture in America but it is getting harder to find. When there is culture it is on the fringes. Space is more filled and there is less freedom. A lot of things have been figured out and what's left to do has become so complex, it's harder to see the rewards.