One night I was driving through the parking lot at our local Target, and I saw a perfectly positioned red shopping cart, leaned up on a curb as if worshipping the red glow of the local Hibachi Buffet. This scene opened my eyes to the secret life of shopping carts all over the country. As I continued pulling the thread of this project, I found comedy and tragedy. Sadness and silliness. I found shopping carts in burned down houses, carts set up as makeshift shelters in the woods, carts full of pizza and oatmeal cream pies, and carts that couldn't be bothered to return to their designated spots. Abandoned carts are often associated with homelessness, and while that association is accurate, I argue that they also symbolize human nature as a whole. They exist across the full spectrum of human life and emotion. Every cart left where it doesn't belong has been touched by someone with a vibrant story of their own.