Neven Mrgan's Tumbl: The Walled Garden
This photo shows a walled garden:
It is the Portland Japanese Garden, a city landmark that should be on any visitor’s shortlist. It’s beautiful, peaceful, clean, and well visited. Some consider it the most authentic Japanese garden worldwide (outside of Japan).
The garden is also walled off. Literally. It is run by a private, nonprofit organization, and it’s funded solely by admission earnings and donations. Adults pay $9.50 to get in. Once you’re in, you can’t smoke, you can’t use a cell phone, you can’t have a snack - you can’t even buy a snack on premises. No pets, no professional photography, no weddings.
This is because the garden is meant to create and foster a certain tranquil mindset, a contemplative mood of oneness with Nature. You may find this corny or old-fashioned; if so, you’re better off seeing other city sights. If you buy into the garden’s premise, however, it’s a rewarding and unique experience.
Neven deconstructs the App-Store-as-a-walled-garden metaphor into something worth pondering.
Closed doesn’t mean imprisoned. It doesn’t mean evil. It doesn’t mean dictatorial.
Closed means closed.
