Spontaneous Pillow Fights - Feathery Fun

Spontaneous urban gatherings, flash mobs – even though I live in a large city, I didn’t know what this meant until I read WebUrbanist, a blog about urban culture. The post on September 3rd explained that these flash mobs are arranged either through the Internet, cell phones, or text messages. A time, place, and theme is broadcast and people just go.

They gather to do the silly and inane activities from childhood that most adults think themselves too mature to take part in, like the pillow fights. I am fascinated by this. What a great stress reliever it must be to meet up with strangers in a public place and spontaneously have a pillow fight, or water balloon fight, or dance to music from the Broadway show Grease. The gatherings last until they are over, with no time constraints on the fun. It’s over when everyone goes on their way.

Imagine how it must have felt to be near the San Francisco Ferry Building on February 15, 2006 when 1,000 people converged from nowhere onto the open mall and produced pillows from backpacks and shopping bags. I can hear the laughter and the squeals as they all began pummeling each other with fluffy bed pillows. Feathers flew in the air like snow flakes. The laughter was contagious. No one was hurt. The police were not called. It was just people enjoying people and I think that’s cool.

In the United States, we need some stress relief. We need to have fun. We need to laugh. I can’t think of a better way. I found the Pillow Fight Club for those of you who want to get in a few good shots with a downy dream catcher. I also found this article about flash mobs in Austin, TX.