last night i watched a man openly smoke crack at the bus stop, right in the middle of the sidewalk. this was seconds before an obese shirtless man stomped through the crowd, muttering 'motherfucker', carrying a stereo that was blaring rap to the point of distortion. it was audible from blocks away. everyone around me had the same reaction: horrified glances, then turning away and giggling. my bus came and i put out my half-smoked cigarette. "can i have the rest?" he asked. "sure, i guess" i said.
i engaged in an experiment yesterday of simply smiling at everyone i made eye contact with. the common practice here is to glance and quickly avert eyes- the better to not intrude upon anyone else's space. old people, men, women... the only ones who are still refreshingly demonstrative are kids. it seems that the adults with the kids are usually nicer and more open as a result, too. so i smiled... and for the most part, people smiled back. some looked surprised. only a few pretended to ignore me- usually overly stylized women.
folklife started yesterday- and i watched 3 men playing an instrument i had never before seen. it sounded like a sinister violin/accordion. afterwards one of the men described its workings. quite possibly the coolest instrument ever? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurdy_gurdy
and all this time i thought it was simply one of donovan's less-inspired songs.
a quote from 'the maltese falcon' (found in a book about 'vice advertising' of the '40's-'60's): "i distrust a man who says when. if he's got to be careful not to drink too much, it's because he's not to be trusted when he does."