Wednesday, October 30, 2002
I stop when I get to the corner and turn to look in the direction of a siren. An ambulance. Across the street a man is waving his arms. For a moment I think he’s going to wave down the ambulance, but it turns out that he’s really just trying to direct [...]
A few days ago, I ran into an old coworker. He told me that he’d just lost his job. His girlfriend had too, he said, then pointed at a sad short girl standing in the doorway of the convenience store. She had a dazed expression on her face. I looked at [...]
Tuesday, October 22, 2002
I was leaving Broadway Market just as someone was heading inside. We went for the same door. I pushed the door open wide and squeezed past, while he maneuvered around me. He offered some parting words to the man he’d been walking with, and waved good-bye, turning toward the door. Then, [...]
Tuesday, October 22, 2002
It might not surprise anyone to know that there are bloggers who write things like: “Women constantly want equal rights and privledges [sic]. But when is the last time a women [sic] in your office lifted something heavy or opened the door for you? That’s why I always say women want equal [...]
As I turned around to leave, I caught a peripheral glimpse of something moving in the water. I turned back and saw a school of enormous red fish heading in my direction at a leisurely pace, right beside the pier. (The schools of little fries that hang out near the piers always swim [...]
Saturday, October 19, 2002
It was behaving strangely, which is to say that it was behaving exactly as one would expect a pigeon to act. It twisted its head around nervously, flinching two or three times. Then it stopped for a moment, stunned. It recovered its composure and flicked its neck around - more aggressively this [...]
Thursday, October 17, 2002
The Greenpeace folks work in pairs. Each pair is assigned a busy street, where the partners stand facing away from each other, a few yards apart. They wear matching green jackets or sometimes matching yellow polo shirts. Each holds a green binder under one arm. And as you walk past, the [...]
There’s a busker perched at the top of a little side set of stairs on the way down to the waterfront, a hippy. She strums her guitar distractedly. When a group of people walks past, when she sits up ridged, picks up the tempo and sings at the sky. No one can [...]
There are three campaigns cycled into service on an irregular schedule. One day the activists hold up signs that say, “Send dentists to jail.” Months later it’s, “Lawyers stink.” They hand out flyers that only repeat the slogans, there’s no explanation.
The third campaign is slightly less ambiguous. The signs read, “Ban [...]
Thursday, October 10, 2002
I was typing up some notes for an entry, and they came together as a haiku. I was just about ready to post it until I realized that I’d never before resorted to that here. That would be lazy. I’ll show a little restraint.