Staring at the ground
There is nothing like losing something to make you see things in ways you don’t usually.
On the way to school today, I somehow lost the envelope with the rent check in it. I didn’t realize that it had fallen out of my back pocket until I was in my studio. Once I figured it out, I walked all the way back home, and then back to school looking for it.
Regardless, the envelope is gone… probably enticing some enterprising pedestrian to commit some sort of identitiy manipulation in order to cash the rent check. Thankfully, the check got canceled, and there is some kind of insurance in the unlikely event that it does get cashed by someone.
What was most interesting though, is how much stuff there is on the ground here in Brooklyn. I mean, I’m used to looking down occasionally when I walk, so I don’t step in dog crap, broken glass, or in a puddle (the puddles here are really dirty) - but I’ve never attempted to parse every piece of litter on the sidewalk. It’s exhausting… there’s so much of it! Maybe last night there was some kind of neighborhood trash party, because it seemed like there was more than usual. But then again, like I said, I don’t usually look at all of it.
Sometimes, all the trash is kind of pretty. There are many colors and sizes, all against the asphalt and concrete. And the way the wind can blow a newspaper up against a chain link fence or move small debris into drifts that mingle with leaves in the corners of buildings is aesthetically - as well as meterologically - fascinating. (This sounds way too American Beauty.)
The litter is dependable - you develop a relationship to certain things you see a lot: those really brightly colored cardboard thingys phone cards come in, take-out menus, or computer monitors and printers. And you’re continally surprised at some of the things you see: a sawed-in-half sofa, used diapers, a dead fish.
But, litter is also just litter. Smelly, sticky, and full of things that look exactly like the envelope containing the rent check.
Update: Some good-hearted person apparently stuck the envelope in a mailbox, because the landlord called asking about getting two checks. I am amazed that it made it there - Brooklyn is kinder than I thought…





