notes from the westheight hood

After taking Ro around the neighborhood in his new sled, we cozied up next to the fire and enjoyed the warmth. Well, he mostly threw a fit as we had to come inside but I myself enjoyed the warmth.
I love my little nook of the Dotte, man. Let me just tell you that. We have it good here. Yeah, we get the occasional hustler looking to shovel our walk for $30 and have to watch out for errant police chases, maybe once in a while my husband has to witness a hooker/john tryst on the bridge at 8 a.m. as he bikes it to work, but really, that's the kind of shit I live in the city for. The mix of excitement, dread and bewilderment of wondering about the target of those not-so-far-off gunshots at 3 a.m. That reminder that life histories are diverse and behavior that may as well be from another planet in my book is going down just a block or two away -- and it all seems perfectly in place.
Ro's an amazingly gentle and compassionate child. And living in a reality that he maybe wouldn't have seen otherwise will hopefully serve him well. I hope he doesn't turn out to be one of those agoraphobic aholes who claim growing up in the city justifies all their myopic white fears (and label anything contrary to that view as overly PC) and who subscribe to the delusion that turning the world into one big mall will solve social ills (see the latest scuffles at Independence Center and Ward Parkway, armed robbery at OP mall by way of the Dotte).
And seriously, KCK isn't Independence AVE in KCMO; it's generally pretty quiet here except for the shootings between people who know each other. People try to keep it in the family in our neck of the woods and I thank them for that shred of common courtesy.
So that's it for ramblings today. I apologize but having not blogged in ages, it's a rough and random road back. I'll pick it up again, promise. Until then, here are a couple little snaps from my phone.
My favorite pee stall at work. I spend a lot of time here these days.