sweet smell of brooklyn

The map looks simple enough, squiggly lines differentiated by wieght. I-95 sign split to face either flow; an open palm promising 'New England', the back of my hand (as if I knew either so well as the adage) forever abbreviating 'NYC'. We find our Fords aren't those Fords and that those Fords along with most other billionaire/millionaire types aren't in the habit of sharing the benefits of their station in life. Sherry and her wealthy collectors both get an A+ for double time sharing the extra extra mansion. Greenwich, CT is home to Ivana Trump's country house, rampant drug problems at the high school, and also where ezpei works (decreased commute big motivator to our campout). We call it the country (there are a-ni-mals just roaming for crying out loud), but truly it is just the suburbs, the suburbs on steroids with legions of clever tax lawyers.

No cell phone reception, internet, or cable will sure clear some 21st century build up out of your ears. Anxiety over the silence, the expansive uninhabited picturesque land, the lack of pressing issues, the homogenous opulence---- waned after a couple of midnight hot tub runs. Well, ok, so Sherry + I also worked on some landscape art to better situate ourselves- hers is blue haired sherry in a bucolic new england background...with a burning helicopter dropping out of the sky....mine is likewise a landscape, where the tree trunks are transformed into the iconic cross towers of the projects (I don't think we ever got over calculating how many more people would be inhabiting the same cubic feet in our fair city).

In a car packed with e.z.pie pickup, picnic basket, paintings, pink slippers, with a sherry on top, the lines of the map gradually lost their trees and came closer and closer to more lines. They started honking and the stench lifted off them aroudn Shea stadium was a fright. The said nothing of the unchopped vista from the White Stone Bridge back into the mountain range of Manhattan. The trees were tranquil; the handbuilt Manhattan megalith goddamn inspirational.

Slid rather easily back into rooftop sunset toasts, cell-phoned triangulation for impromtu meet-ups, mega-museums, level 7 white noise, people watching and 24 hour anything you want. Only more happy.

What I wouldn't give for a monthly dose of perspective.