It’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood.
I don’t walk Jack around much in this neighborhood. I always have the urge to get in the car to drive somewhere better for walking but then that;’s too much of a hassle. This neighborhood is a combination of abandoned factories, dilapidated houses, low income housing and new condos. the park is just across the street but that doesn’t make for much of a walk…
We do jaunt out occasionally. Yesterday we went a mile or so away to get chicken and waffles and blue bottle lattes (for me). We jaunted past construction, warehouses, punk kids going to band practice and a dude pushing a dumpster who offered Jack a tricycle, people walking dogs and some workers protesting outside the big weird nameless concrete no windowed building.
The other day we were doing this same walk and we paused outside an open bay door and peaked in at the machinery. A cheerful dude swooped down on us and was like, “hey! check out this machine! guess what it’s doing! It’s making single serving packets of toilet paper for soldiers! here, have a few!”.
I was exceedingly pleased by the guys heerfulness and also getting to know one of the mysteries of the building. Now when I walk past and see the machine whirling around I can feel smug in the knowledge that I know what it is doing. I think ere is a t-shirt printing shop in there too or a distributor of t-shirts. The protesters are still a mystery. I would have asked them but I never caught up. They are groups of three people in hardhats carrying pipes marching around the building.
One pf the things that often keeps me from walking around here with Jack is the worry that I am fucking his lungs.But really, his lungs are already fucked. There are studies about kids in w. oaktown and how their lungs are fucked. KQED Quest TV show did a piece on Communities with the highest diesel smog levels. I don’t know if keeping him indoors makes a difference at all but surely walking right past the grody smoke belching trucks is worse.
Yesterday I was reading while pushing him along. I know! I’m a jerk! But I was reading ‘Homecoming’ which you may remember as a Newberry Award winner in the early 80’s. I cried like a jerk through most of it. Now I’m on the second one. Probably this book will be labeled ‘not appropriate for todays children’ or some such nonsense. sheesh! My nephew left a ‘jigsaw jones’ book here the other day and I read it. BOOOORING! GOD! So sucky! like a jerky get along with everybody boringass Encyclopedia Brown. I mean, Encyclopedia Brown was good. Am I right? I’m feeling all crusty like everything is watered down and stupid for kids today. It’s all about getting along and understanding others. Oh yeah? well show me some little kids really like that and I’ll lick you free of charge.