Why I Like My Neighborhood

1. People plant vegetables in their front yards, in the space between the sidewalk and the street, in little patches by the back gate, in pots and empty lots. Today I saw a cucumber vine slinking between the pre-fab shrubs in front of the new houses on C- St.

2. I get a neighborhood discount at the barber shop.

3. I can learn neighborhood news while sitting in the leopard-print barber chair that says "KRAKEN" on the footrest.

4. When we show movies or whatever's on GOL TV on the side of our house from our neighbor's front porch (using a projector M has borrowed from his work) and a couple of us drag porch chairs out to the alley to watch, no one complains. Passersby stop, watch a few minutes, chat, and then go on walking their dogs.

5. Coming or going, people are always happy on the quarter-mile walk between here and the river. I love seeing the energy in the steps of people on their way to the river, and the satisfied, sun-burnished faces of people on their way back.

6. There's more, but I'm going for a walk. I love the thought that even at 10:30 at night, people will be sitting with friends on their front porches.