"NATICK COLLECTION" OR "THE BLIGHT"?

“And she named the child Ichabod, saying, The glory is departed...” (from I Samuel 4:21)

Yesterday’s MetroWest Daily News featured a front page story about General Growth Properties changing the name of The Natick Mall to The Natick Collection.  Yes, it’s a collection, all right.  It’s a collection of extremely upscale specialty stores that have no appeal to a commoner like me.  I haven’t even been to the Natick Mall, or “Collection” or whatever in at least six months, and I have absolutely no desire to go there.

My son Jonathan, (his pen name is jon Baril tk) (don’t ask me what “tk” stands for- it’s one of those weird literary name things like ee cummings) wrote a wonderful piece about the decline of the Natick Mall and the reasons why he will not shop there anymore.  Jon submitted it to the MetroWest Daily News as a column a couple of weeks ago.  They have not run it.  I suspect they won’t, first of all  because it’s long, and secondly because it’s controversial and puts the Natick Mall or whatever you want to call it in a very bad light.  I wish they WOULD run it!  Jon is a phenomenal writer.  He’s got a B.A. in Writing from Emerson College, has a high I.Q. and frankly writes a lot better than I do.  His piece about the decline of the Natick Mall would resonate with a LOT of people around MetroWest.

In the piece, Jon says he is now refusing to call the place the Natick Mall anymore, because whatever it is, it’s no longer the (circa 1999) Natick Mall we all knew and loved.  Jon is now calling the place, “The Blight”.  From now on, I absolutely will NEVER refer to it as “The Natick Mall” nor will I call it “The Natick Collection”.  From now on, it IS “The Blight” with me.  Those who believe “The Blight” is truly a better place are in the same category as the Ford executives in the autumn of 1957 who pronounced the new Edsel “a success” and the Coca-Cola executives in the mid-1980s who touted the “new Coke” as far superior to the old.  

If you like “The Natick Collection” that’s your right.  If you don’t, call it “The Blight”.