Girl in the City

As I seem to routinely live long-term in small towns, I have a way of making wrong turns. Mostly when walking in big towns. In the past year alone, I've ending up walking in the bad part of town in a few cities in the U.S. as well as abroad. Athens was pretty scary. As are Portland, Seattle, Denver and others. I always get out fine, but it can get pretty hairy there for a while.

Today, in Denver, I got the brilliant idea to walk (by day) to the studio/bar for tonight's party. I had a few hours to kill and wanted to know where I'd be going to meet everyone. I was humbly starting my walk on 14th Street and said bar was on 26th Street. 7,241 steps later (just around 3 1/2 miles), I was back where I started, dehydrated, freaked out and completely glad I didn't attempt that at night.

My coping strategy for scary neighborhoods is eyes down, ears closed and I'm nothing if not stubborn. I ignored several overly-agressive "HEY!" calls, one "HOLA!" call, people glaring at me as I walked by (I had hoped I was imagining it, but nope), people passed out on sidewalks, and plenty of sketchy-looking groups that fled every time a cop cruised by.

After much determination, I came to the place where 2625 should be. I found an abandoned 2513 right next to a broken-down 2537. Having been a pizza driver girl, I know that odd numbers stay on the same side of the street and even numbers stay on their own side. There was no 2625. I found a lot of buildings with bars on the windows, graffiti on everything, and a lot of shattered glass. This, of course, went well with my casual business clothes I wore to the all-day conference. Fabulous!

I turned around sharply and hauled ass back downtown (roughly, 14th-19th streets). I got terribly excited as I got close to 22nd because I saw a lady walking a stroller. On 20th I breathed a sigh as I couldn't see safety bars on windows and a guy in suit walked by. I marched right on down to the bus station, came home and freaked out quietly on my own. I will be driving to the studio tonight (once I get good directions). I will not get out and walk like some small town girl. I won't conserve gas by bussing it. And I will not pass out on a sidewalk.

An Erinku:
scary
plastic people
populate
desk