Readings and thoughts of my sidewalks...

Hello all!
Hope everyone's weekend was fab--mine was slightly blase, but ho-hum.
In response to the readings--I found them interesting--especially "The Use of Sidewalks---Safety" by Jane Jacobs. It really got me thinking about Kutzown, and my home. Sidewalks and their "homes" vary so much from place to place, and a lot of what Jacobs says is true. I went for a walk down the Main Street (I don't know if it's actually called "Main Street" but you get the point) with a friend yesterday---what I discovered was surprising. That street, with its cute shops and restaurants intrigued me on my first visits to Kutztown--in fact, it's "cuteness" probably subconsciously told me to pick KU--I felt safe and "at home." Walking yesterday, though, was so ... weird--My friend and I stopped and bought those chocolate chip cookie ice cream sandwiches, and Stewart's Orange Cream Sodas. We tried to find a bench---"There's gotta be a bench somewhere--it's too cute not to have one" I exclaimed. Finally we came across some weird stinkin' table outside some weird stinkin' store--(which my friend now refers to as a "Mafia joint.") Anyway, sitting there, I realized, yeah, it's cute--but in a weird way--I felt like it was the 1950's--two innocent little girls drinking sodas at a table on Main Street USA, but looking up and down the road, I realized it was slightly creepy--guys that walk by and look at you but don't say anything, smashed beer bottles everywhere, tons of garbage on the streets--welcoming at first glance, but I don't know if I'd walk along it at night.
Same with my street back home--It used to be nice, you know, lots of elderly people, etc etc--but has quickly turned into a piece of junk--for instance, the house next to mine, which the mayor rents out, has housed drug dealers, ex-doctors (ex because of drug dealing...) child molesters (not kidding..) and the like. Jacobs reminded me of this when speaking of Roxbury, and "...the once fine Elm Hill Avenue section..." She goes on to talk about the "web of strong street law and order..." and makes me wish my street had one. I'd prefer that quiet, private street that "...city architectural designers seem to find incomprehensible" to one that has a child molester and neighbors that don't talk to each other.

((((I don't think I'm making sense right now, but I don't want to start over.))))

"Woodruff Park and the Search for Common Ground" by Murphy Davis didn't affect me the way the other reading did--and I don't know why, because this seems to be the one that wants to be identified with---Fix this park! Bring the people back! Homeless people enrich it! We need water fountains! Ho Hum, I say--but maybe I'm just not myself today. Places, sidewalks, they can be inviting or uninviting, comfortable or downright scary, but these places can change too--as shown by the transformation of "Woodruff Park." Once warm and comfy, now cold and barren. Interesting.

((((I think Anderson Cooper's memoir is putting me in a bad mood. One minute I'm in the middle of Somalia with starving kids, then in New Orleans and the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, then I'm listening to him talk about the death of his father and brother--Yikes. I'm putting it away for a few days.))))

So, that's about it--Sorry if this is like, BLAH STINKIN' BLAH but it's just my current state of mind--! I'll see you all Monday...!
-"Coco"