the world outside my window
I chose to live in the most derelict section of this city just over two years ago. It has not been uncommon to see hookers selling themselves, drunks stumbling, or drug deals go down just below my apartment. I have seen grown men fight only to later cry. I have seen a samurai sword unsuccessfully brandished in broad daylight in an attempt to thwart a five man attack. I have joined the ranks of the drunken and wandered the streets aimlessly at night. These people, these wonderful people are my neighbors. I have, against all odds, become one of them and I will be sad to move on.
I am a part of this city, I can feel it inhale as the traffic slowly begins to pick up at six thirty am and exhale the mass exodus begins at five pm.
The town that I am moving to exists only because the university exists. There are no forgotten quarters of the city. The city has been meticulously planned so that urban decay simply does not exist in that way the it does elsewhere. The ghetto is simply a cluster of houses where the more economical students live off of the rent checks that their dutiful parents send at the end of every month.
I will miss the grit of the city.
