looking back, the favorite time of my life was the nearly 20 years I lived in a downtown neighborhood surrounded by black folks...
the good people who accepted me as an eccentric (i.e., sorta crazy) white boy... the sweet li'l kids who'd steal vegetables from my garden but would also call me out to play a street game with 'em... the surly teenagers walking down the street who'd gimme crap but would then back off when they mistook the pruning shears in my back pocket for a gun... the late-night sounds of gunshots from the jukejoints down the street... cop cars with their flashing lights... the free-range urban chickens that would roost in my back yard... all this and so much more... I miss it all so very much...
the good people who accepted me as an eccentric (i.e., sorta crazy) white boy... the sweet li'l kids who'd steal vegetables from my garden but would also call me out to play a street game with 'em... the surly teenagers walking down the street who'd gimme crap but would then back off when they mistook the pruning shears in my back pocket for a gun... the late-night sounds of gunshots from the jukejoints down the street... cop cars with their flashing lights... the free-range urban chickens that would roost in my back yard... all this and so much more... I miss it all so very much...
