John Mason

Fire alarm

I lived in this twenty-two-story building for three years and didn't know anyone in the building. Two households on one floor, forty-four households in total. If each family were put into a single house surrounded by a single fence, forty-four would be a village of considerable size. People go in and out of the village every day, passing each other's mulberry firewood door must stop to exchange greetings and concerns. Forty-four homes are stacked up like forty-four containers, floor by floor, with each container door closed, creating a modern era of absolute incommunication. Different hours, not much chance of meeting in the elevator. I always have the feeling of "cloud deep".