streets

I've spent this past week housesitting for some friends and walking their dog every day after work. While I enjoy my roommate's cat, it's not the same thing as being able to wander the streets and explore with a loyal companion.

I find that I get hit on less (I've never walked fu-fu dogs, they've always been shepherd mixes and in one case, a pit bull), and that I talk to the neighbors more. Love for creatures seems to cut across all the social lines we draw, and on these walks over the past couple years of doing this, I've met a lot of people who are now my neighbors.

And I don't think one gets a sense of the neighborhood by reading about it or driving through, or reducing it to "that's where those yuppies live" or "isn't that the Puerto Rican part of town?" or "Do you ever feel unsafe?"

And yes, these do describe where I live, but so many other things are there too. The guy who painted all those Victorian homes on Franklin Avenue, pickup games of soccer at the rec center, the ice cream stand that sells soft serve and hot dogs, the greasy spoon diners on Lorain, punks on bicycles, Somali girls with gold jewelry and veils, hearing 6 different languages at any given time. People from Liberia, Trinidad, Puerto Rico, Lebanon Vietnam, Burundi, Congo, Russia, the suburbs, the other side of town.

I like having a sense of rootedness and connectedness, knowing the names or at least the faces. Living in Kent was like that for me, walking everywhere and taking in all the small details of my surroundings, and I'm hoping it will be that way here.

west to east and east to west.

Took some vacation time today. Me and roommate had grand road trip plans for Columbus or Kent and ended up exploring more of our city with much success, making the jump from the old familiar parts of Parma to the heart of the east side.

We stopped at Timeless Guitars and while I'd still love an upright bass, I played a beautiful vintage short-scale bass with great sound and style that would make more sense right now and she found some banjos down in the basement that she liked. Hung out in Parma for a little bit to visit my sister and get some groceries and then drove out to Euclid to pick up free moving boxes we saw on Craigslist.

By this time we were hungry and craving something spicy so we called Muk to see where he likes getting Jamaican so he sent us to DK & A down on 120th & St Clair. It's easy to miss but the food is amazing and there's a lot of it. And despite the catcalls from the passing drivers, I'd go back there again if I'm out that way. The spices were comforting and made me think of warmer sunny days.

We met up with him at the food co-op parking lot and ate curry chicken and drank fruity organic stuff in the car as the windows fogged up, and then went out to some party in Mayfield. While I'm so intimidated by groups of new people, I ended up having a nice time and I'm thankful that the frustrations of past experiences don't always need to repeat in the present.

And even though it's started snowing, we're back home and it's warm.