back to life, back to reality

Sooo. Drove back crosscountry, saw a few county fairs and landed ass first in Bushwick. I've had a little getting used to this neighborhood, and don't think I'll really get adjusted still for some while. There's something strange and unsettling about the fact that I seem to moving further and further away from the NYC core as I continue to live in this town.

Was reading the first of an anticipated very many books on the J train today - Ferlinghetti's Love In the Days of Rage, which is short and brisk, long flowing sentences and so many allusions to other written works that I wish I had an AMG of books for it. Through the voice of Annie, the Yonkers born Parisian '68 transplant artiste there is a discussion of the masculinity of light in New York City, how the big sky that leaves the country unbounded begins even among the harsh skyline of overbuilt commerce. It's hard, thin and far away, true - this is something I noticed on the gradual dig through history that was driving back from Seattle. Around Wisconsin, the sky gets this way, disinterested.

I was thinking about it as I came over the East River, thinking about how strange and alien I feel in this city after having lived here for so long and having been gone only for two years. I don't think I'll 'readjust,' because people, places, institutions, ideas, all have changed. Instead, I feel confident in who I am and where I am in the world, and for that I am thankful. It makes getting back in to the peculiarities of city living more of a choice. It reminds of something that Rhett Miller said, which I of course thought was corny, for the Songcraft exhibit at EMP - that 'songwriters have to wake up every morning and get into the place where they see the world for the first time.' It's almost as if I have given myself this rare oppurtunity to see something for the first time and while knowing it, learn it like a stranger.

This isn't about music. Sorry. If you want to think about the historicizing of something truly zeigheist then look at this Wired article about a conference and exhibit on the history of computer hackers. I'll report on this next Monday as I'll be up in Providence this weekend at the exhibit as well as packing a damn van full of records to bring back to the city.