I got into San Francisco at 7 am and spent the day wandering around, unable to find a place to sleep in the rain (I didn’t get a wink on the bus, and didn’t have a place to stay till five.) No putting your head down on a desk in the back of the library, [...]
Not only were we on the right street, we were going the right direction
I had decided to go into the city for the day, and a man named Jeff offered to show me around because he lives in San Diego, but don’t tell the people at Point Loma Intl Hostel that, because people who live in San Diego aren’t supposed to stay there.
We went into the train station [...]
What does an explosion of slime taste like?
A day of laundry, of library, of lugging suitcases around, of sitting on a crowded bus all night unable to sleep.
In the afternoon I stood by the bus stop in Point Loma, talking to a nice young man, and all of a sudden I felt very dizzy and I said so, and he said, [...]
Point Loma, San Diego: Welcome to California
I’m staying in Point Loma, San Diego, about a mile and a half from Ocean Beach. The community is super laid back. The yards are filled with vegetables, paintings, and trinkets, the air with church bells and flutes, and there are a lot of old cars clunking around.
I’m surprised mostly by the number of [...]
Library : Bus :: Anorexia : Electrocution
When I worked in residential treatment for girls with eating disorders, two of the girls got in a fight over a book. One girl said the book had ruined her life, and told the other (younger) girl that she should never read it. The younger girl was incredibly insulted and said, “Its just so STUPID [...]
Dia de los Muertos: Tucson
I showed up at Lucky Art Studio on ninth avenue because I read that there I could make a mask for Dia de los Muertos, the Mexican Day of the Dead festival held in Tucson.
The event took place in the Studio’s gated parking lot, which was decorated with spray paint and broken bikes, and [...]
The Tucson Desert and the oldest bar in Arizona
Walter (who I met at the hostel) knows the Tuscon desert so he drove Scott (who reminds me of a good friend from home, Ben) and I deep in and told us about the plants and coyotes there. Like the Barrel Cactus, it leans south and if you chop off it’s head the inside is [...]
Getting my Tusc On
There aren’t many parks here, and the parks there are are more like patches of grass with a few little trees and men lay sprawled in every puddle of shade. A piece of paper on the ground titled “8 Ways You Can Truly Help the Homeless.”
Number 1: “Never give cash to a homeless person”
Number 4: [...]
COBB: Cracked Out Bus Blues
I decided to skip Phoenix. I met a young man in the bus station and he said, “I grew up in Phoenix, it’s differet now. It got dirty, you know? It’s trashed now.” I asked him why that had happened and he said, “I don’t know man. People there just don’t want to keep their [...]
My name isn’t David Gordon and whose clothes are these? Flagstaff
I left the Grand Canyon in the morning for Flagstaff, and the girls left for Utah. It was bittersweet as I was sad, scared, and excited.
I took the Flagstaff Express into town. It was Wednesday, so we listened to Hank Williams, Hank Williams Jr, and Hank Williams III, and the van driver told me [...]
