No Chaser

What I am imagining

I just can't help it.  I keep imagining James Brown, Gerald Ford, and Saddam Hussein together on Charon's little ferry, which in this case is a fancy yacht complete with caterers passing around trays of trendy hors d'oeuvres and glasses of champagne.   Since they now have nothing to lose, the well-manicured personae they've maintained for so long drop away, and the stories they tell each other don't function to prop up their self and public images.  Hussein no longer pretends he united his country, instead fascinating and repulsing his audience with tales of his unchecked sadism; Ford admits to a crush on Alexander Haig; and Brown, it turns out, really likes a good game of Scrabble.
 

posted by: NoChaser at December 30, 2006 12:49 | link | comments |

Halfway House

One of the nice things about coming back to the city is the daily interaction with other city dwellers.  Every day when I walk the dogs or just walk about, I see and greet interesting people:  the lesbian couple walking their Boston terriers; the gay Portuguese man walking his bichon; the medical intern returning from rounds on his bike at six in the morning; the older woman enjoying the buds on the camellias; the younger woman struggling with two bags of holiday groceries; the hungover hipsters straggling home or off to work in cafés and retail shops.

My favorite people these days are the generally older, fairly haggard crowd hanging around and smoking in front of their halfway house down the street.   I'm not sure what the house caters to, but I do know it's not sex offenders.  My guess would be drug and alcohol rehab.  When I walk by, I greet them warmly, and they usually respond in kind.  The people lingering there are fairly happy, often joking with each other playfully, getting a kick out of my tiny dogs in their silly sweaters. 

What strikes me about their cheer is that they are much happier than you would expect from people who have obviously experienced a great deal of pain, anger, hurt, shame, loss, guilt, disgrace.   In the midst of experiencing these feelings myself, I am encouraged by their cheerfulness, by their belief that their lives are improving, by their evident hope.  It reminds me that I'm living in a halfway house of sorts myself, yet another limbo in which to recreate myself as I do and have done and will do again and again and again.

posted by: NoChaser at December 26, 2006 12:16 | link | comments (4) |

Adieu

Tomorrow morning, nc bids adieu to the Land of Corn and bonjour to the Land of Coffee, Mountains, and Saltwater.  It is likely she will not blog again for a few weeks, so do not be dismayed by her absence.  I predict many more straight-up rants in your future.
Until then, enjoy your holidays.

posted by: NoChaser at December 10, 2006 13:52 | link | comments |