Uptown Wednesday Night

If you've ever been near the Wilson Red Line stop in Uptown, you no doubt have seen a number of people "loitering".  In general, it is an atmosphere of anxiety to the casual passer-by who may be concerned for their safety. 

Last night around 9:30 I passed through the area and something was very different.  Aside from the massive snow drifts being gone and the construction barriers from Truman College gone, the sidewalks were empty.  There were no thugs, rif-raf, loiterers or whatever it is that is politically correct to call them.  There wasn't even trash on the ground.  It was serene.  The whole area seemed... nice.  It was liberating in a way.  I felt relieved of the concern to wear a stone-face and keep my eyebrows down.  The yellow halogen street lamps cast a simple warm glow that matched the sound of the music in my headphones.  My neighborhood had been cleaned.

With the passing of Winter and a new mayor being elected, I couldn't help but feel a certain civic sentiment of hope and healing for Uptown.  I laid awake for hours soaking in my amazement at what I felt on that street corner... alone.  But it's not about being alone that I was thinking about, but my neighbors and our local government and the diversity of my neighborhood and the changes that it has experienced in recent past.  Uptown is being re-born and there is an oppurtunity for the people who live there to shine light in places that have been dark.  I thought about other ways that might improve the quality of our neighborhood and the biggest idea was participation.

As a trend, popular American culture is rife with identity affriming narcissism (probably because that is what fuels consumption and impulse spending).  It is difficult to feel "intimacy" and "community" when social identity groups are all making claim to be "included" into the greater social narrative simply by Right rather than participation.  The time has come that the greater social norm IS acceptance, but acceptance only lasts when there is value to sustain it.  The value of being in a group or a community is not about the group accepting you, but you acting as a member within the group and making a contribution to the overall value of the group.  It is a pitiful group that does not expect anything of it's members.

And so it is here that I propose a community initiative to "be the missing link".  By very definition, we acknowledge a space that needs to be filled in our community.  By definition, we acknowledge that something is missing.  There is a part, a link, in a series of links that are asking to be connected to increase the quality and general wellness of our community.  It is by the collective vision of a better standard of living that we aspire to have clean sidewalks and a safe passage to the grocery store.  It is by particpating in neighborly behavior that we can make our time together feel welcoming and encouraging and healing.