This past weekend my family of four, including our dog, visited a state park in Northern Minnesota. Beautiful woods, long hikes, rock formations, waterfalls, tents, smores, campfires. It was a great way to recharge and get away from Covid-19 and the unrest in Minneapolis. When I returned home and started looking at my pictures, I was suddenly struck by how much time I’ve spent staring at screens during the pandemic. And how little they have given me. A weekend in the woods had actually nourished my soul. But these small colorful images on my phone were lacking in anything natural or nourishing. My digital devices had become the oppressors. The Netflix show, the Zoom call, the online yoga class. I had just experienced real outdoor freedom, and the stuff on my screen was a pale substitute.
I felt a rage rising up in me. I’d been brainwashed into this reality. And living my life through a tiny screen, when the world is so open and inspiring, is nuts.
“Rage Against the Machine” National Park is not a fun or beautiful park, though it’s expansive, with rivers, forests, and mountains. It’s tired and worn down. It promised so much when it first opened. But the pathways are all too far from actual nature. The forest is always just up that hill, the mountain is a little too far to get to, the animals are always absent. You get to “enjoy” it on giant iPads with awesome billboard-sized infographics, and video screens with bird’s eye view drone footage, and great facts about the park’s flora and fauna. There are many long winding sidewalks with informational signs. There’s always someone asking you to download an app for the park so you can really embrace the experience. And everywhere there are people taking selfies or making TikTok videos. There’s really no fucking park to enjoy. It’s just a place to take our phones out for a walk.
David MacGillivray, Age 56
Minneapolis, MN
This story is a selection from National Parks of Emotion, an evolving participatory art project documenting people’s emotional experience during the Covid-19 pandemic. Writing edited by David Goldstein, photos edited by Mindy Stricke.