Babel

“But why so phallic?” My neck cramps craning to get a better view while my stomach slides sideways from last night’s hot pot and vodka Red Bulls. An orange haze settles over Shanghai’s skyline punctured by the Pearl Tower, a tapered needle adorned with a pink glittery ball. My boyfriend shrugs, uninterested. My hometown of Calgary has one too — a penis tower rising up over the rest of the city’s architecture asserting its dominance. Every year, I spy more concrete and glass tallywackers in Auckland, Berlin, Dubai, Seattle, and Tehran—members of the World Federation of Great Towers.