mean streets

I used to live here, though on the south side. These streets were once my streets.

So I am back. My first twleve hours. Impressions? My mental notes include the following:

A long detour getting here because Golf Road was cordoned off for blocks. Something to do with a dead body.

A trip to the local Whole Foods (smirk noted, thanks) reveals the mark up on just about everything. Because, you know, it’s the city and people will pay.

I must remember to set the alarm at two hour intervals so that I can move the car. You are not allowed to do anything (eat, visit, have sex, take a nap -- just to give a few examples of potentially non-interruptable activities) for more than two hours at a time. Must move, must move, get up and get out of here, out you go! Switch places, musical parking places, what fun!

I'm watching the preciously lovely, Dickensian almost, view out the window at dawn, with the gentle snow lightly covering the buildings of the university across the street from where I’m staying …Only to pretty much have it melt on the hot urban sidewalk by the time I get out with the camera (to move the car, what else).

I do like cities! I do! Their grittiness challenges you to stay calm, unperturbed. Feet up, exhale.



(at dawn. note student-type pulling all-nighter with term paper)