Latino coin laundry in Chicago.
Smell of freshness. Perfumes of the perfect family home.
More soap more smell that gets me addicted, almost.
Dryers turning clothes behind round windows like portholes.
Machine of life in operation. Clean floors, orange chairs,
Mini vans parking outside.
Men carrying huge loads of laundry out of their cars,
into woman territory.
Community action, chatting, watching TV, all spanish.
Clean clothes to be folded properly, symbolic restoration of order
after one week of wearing and tearing, dirt and sweat.
Family values. Inner city ones. Latino ones.
Middle class Whities head for suburbia instead.
House debts and sprawl commuting, also cute, but smells worse.
One shoe box a family. White walls, all innocent. Big screens,
windows to the world outside. New car every 2 years. SUV
protect my family, ask Detroit. New home every 5,
bigger and further outside of course, a proof that shows
still to be on the wealth track.
Beauty from far above. Got to fly in order to see.
These suburban paintings, curves and cul de sacs.
Graphic family values.
Watchtower at the coin laundry.
Where page one suburbanists and
working class latino families meet.
A cover story.
