SELFIES (June 9, 2014)
Tourists are much fun, and especially when they photograph each other all around Motovun. The fake smiles and improbable postures are amazing to behold. Of course, they would never touch their food before photographing it for their friends. The photographs are destined for social networks, after all. But selfies are the rage as of late. And it is stunning to watch women young and old photograph themselves. One of their favorite spots in the hilltown is the loggia. They lean against one of the stone columns and keep going for quite a while. The goal is to catch themselves, the column, and the vineyards beyond. Given the women’s poor perception of space, each selfie takes between five and fifteen minutes of hard work. The joy of posting it on the Wide World Web must be tremendous to justify the effort. But I just watched a woman in her late forties or early fifties work on a selfie in the loggia. Her smiles and postures were amazing to behold, indeed. And she could not care less that she was in plain view of so many people cramming the lower square. It took her a quarter of an hour at least to come up with one of the best selfies she could imagine, for the smile on her face stayed with her even as she walked away from the loggia. She seemed to be sure of likes galore. Who knows, perhaps she had already gotten a few?