2.17.17
I’ve only been here three weeks as of tomorrow.
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I don’t know if I love this city yet. But I do know that there is an exhilarating joy that comes with finding out.
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I’m from Indianapolis. I’d describe Indy as a really large neighborhood. I know what to expect from each area the minute that I enter it.
Fountain Square is beautifully revitalizing and artsy, yet still unkempt enough to remind you that you live in the real world, not some perfectly designed, fake metropolis.
Broad Ripple is it’s own thing. If not for the two new more-than-two-story buildings they just built, it’s where you go for everything local. Local food, local coffee, local people. People who don’t live in local-feeling places migrate to Broad Ripple around meal times so that they can feel more local. If you’re young and you don’t live there, you wish you could live there. If you’re old and you live there, you’ve probably lived there forever. You’re the mainstay. You were cool before being cool was cool.
And then you have Mass Ave, Irvington, Monument Circle, Lockerbie, Carmel…
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What I’m getting at is- in Indy- there are too many places I know and love to count and describe. It’s beautifully, engagingly familiar.
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And now I find myself in St. Louis- a city with stories unknown to me, local places that I might just fall in love with but that I can’t see coming around the corner.
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An expectant unfamiliarity fills the place of my old Indy favorites.
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“Indy.”
Just a week ago today I was at a coffee shop in St. Louis (Kayak’s to be exact. Go order an almond milk Gibraltar. You won’t regret it.), and I ran into a younger man from Portland who was just visiting St. Louis for two days due to an unexpected flight delay. Seeing as neither of us knew anyone in St. Louis to talk to, it was nice running into each other. He noticed that I called Indy “Indy” and commented on it. I forgot that other people don’t know my home like I do and need to take note of it.
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What I’m saying is- I don’t know the “Indy” phrases of St. Louis yet. (Is it STL? You tell me.) I don’t know what certain areas are like at night versus during the day. I don’t know much of anything about being here.
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But I want to.
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And so I have started this blog.
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It will include facts.
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It will include surprises.
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It will include adventures.
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And it might include boring days too. And sketches of the laundromat. (I have a long history of laundromat sketches. What better thing to do than sketch boring places while you’re bored? Boredom inception.)
You might find out about a good restaurant.
Or get to sit in with me at a beautiful spot in St. Louis that’s only noticeable if you’re quiet and restful enough.
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I don’t yet know why I love being here.
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But in being here I’m about to find out.
