ON GESTURE/SWITCHES
A still from von Sternberg's 1941 noir The Shanghai Gesture
Often the use of the word gesture is used in the positive. "It was a nice gesture," for example, is used to describe a courtesy or an act of friendship. Of course a gesture can be negative, a menacing gesture etc, but part of the very definition of the word—albeit rather far down on the list—is this idea of a nicety, a common courtesy.
I thought about this again this week because I was trying to figure out where and how to switch off the LEDs for the "signaling" part of the binder. A momentary switch is like a flash: a flash of light a flash of a smile. In a city of millions these are the encounters that stand out. A genuine moment shared with a stranger.
I have a tiny momentary switch that might fit nicely on the front of the tie or on the cuff of the shirt. I would like it to fit in seamlessly with a "normal" gesture--straightening a tie, pulling on one's cuffs, adjusting one's collar?