Read my latest story, "The All-Nighter", at 52|250.

Dig up the remains of a civilization and what the buildings emphasize will show you what it valued, and so it is with JetBlue’s new terminal in New York’s JFK airport:

The 340-foot-wide security checkpoint will dominate the departures hall the way ticket counters once did, occupying the focal point of the Y-shaped building.

There will be 20 security lanes. “They were sized with the idea that passengers have luggage, have children, have wheelchairs and have special needs,” said William R. DeCota, director of aviation at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which runs Kennedy.

After running the security gantlet, travelers will find a lot of benches where they can pull themselves back together.

Security dominates. Step into the building, and immediately you become aware of the requirement to expose all that you have to scrutiny, for that is what is valued now. People are valued in accord with their willingness to give up privacy whenever the word ‘safety’ is invoked. And, in a twist on diversity, all are invited into this system, regardless of disability or family status (the exception, of course, being those without the economic status to fly– but their portion of the airport, the service portion, is buried further in this new structure).

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