I got to the bar on West Seventh a bit early. I wasn’t sure how long it would take me to swim the mile through the sticky air, so I made sure I had too much time. If nothing else, it was good to have some time to sit in the AC and imagine the sweaty stink drying off of me. This was a meeting with someone who I hadn’t seen in a while, someone who might do something really great for me. Some work was a possibility, but what I was hoping for more than anything was a little confirmation.
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Category Archives: Urban Life
Life in da big city, and in Saint Paul as well.
Pedestrian Friendly
Any large building project has the potential to be defined by a detail. It can be for better or worse, but it’s often true that “God is in the details”. A major project here in Saint Paul, still in the planning stages, illustrates this point perfectly. The current plans for the Central Corridor (University Avenue) Lite Rail project are a catastrophe that cannot possibly succeed because they completely miss one important part of the transit experience – a decent sidewalk.
Fountain
The fountain is on. Word goes through the neighborhood as if it has to, forming language to express what anyone hears well enough as the murmur of water. We say it to each other not because we have to tell the story, but because something deep inside us says we have express our joy. The Irvine Park fountain is on! It’s summer in Saint Paul, finally!
Knowitall
Think for a moment on how much you know about the world around you. If there’s a debate about banning a very useful chemical because some people have found it is toxic or dangerous, what is your opinion? If that’s too much, what do you know about how the operations of the Legislature that is debating your taxes and services for the next year? Perhaps we should try something simpler – how do you know if the sneakers you are wearing were made with child labor?
Perhaps you say, “I don’t care. I’m too bizzy to worry about it all. There are experts to handle these things, I’ll trust them.” Which ones do you trust? In the next election, do you vote based on an appeal to your guts because it sounds right, and what do you get for it?
Tunes
Without a cloud in sight and a temperature of 70F, it was a day to drive with the windows down and the radio turned up. The sweet smells of a budding spring mixed with a song by Schubert playing on the radio; it was a moment of vivacious joy in the few minutes I had to myself between dropping my work and picking up the kids.
That is, it was until I came to the stoplight. The car next to me held a young woman with similar plans but very different tastes in sound, rhythm and volume. My options were limited – roll up the windows and proclaim my own sonic territory or crank up Schubert really loud. Since I’m constant weary of standing out as the oddest duck in the pond, you can guess what I did. Schubert remained mine, and mine alone, as I wished everyone was willing to do.
Barataria - The work of Erik Hare 