Multiplicities of the Wal-Mart

Wal-Marts seems to be resented and worshipped, well, for being Wal-Mart. Liberals consider the retailer the scourge of American society and conservatives render the revenue monster as the ultimate reification of unadulterated capitalism.

Like airports, truckstops, and hospitals, these big box behemoths and the attached parking lots host vast cross-sections of American society simulataneously, daily, hourly. And because of the rather pluralisitc compostion of the customers, these complexes are the sites for many other activities besides commerce.

See the attached story here about a college kid who lived, unnoticed, in a Wal-Mart for several days. See another story here about the symbiotic relationship between Motorhome wanderers and Wal-Mart parking lots. I disovered the Motorhome relationship while reading Sunday Money, a book documenting a year following the NASCAR circuit around the country.