Catch Jim Reed’s Red Clay Diary podcast on youtube: https://youtu.be/ywzfzxq_5wg
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or read the transcript below…
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Life, actually…
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DANCING AND DODGING IN VILLAGE STREETS
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I am an untrained dancer navigating the choreography of village streets.
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Just look around. There is movement and energy everywhere. Here’s what it feels like in the middle of the day in my own downtown neighborhood.
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A lunchtime employee hugs close her to-go carton.
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A disoriented visitor treads the sidewalk, trying to find out what’s where.
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One sidewalk leafblower-worker blasts leaves and trash over to other neighbors’ storefronts
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One large plane descends toward the airport, causing the earth to vibrate.
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An emergency helicopter heads for the medical center.
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A firetruck roars past and shakes the windows.
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Another dogwalker polices poop.
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Security guards change shifts and chat.
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A panhandler trolls for someone to listen.
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Pedestrian and child wait for the right light.
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Motorist after motorist turns the wrong way on one-way streets…free entertainment for street-level employees stationed in picture windows
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Dead-battery victim hopes for a jumpstart.
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Coat-hanger borrower attempts to unlock a car door.
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Choreographed drivers dodge and weave: motorcyclists, scooterists, bicyclists, muscle car-ers, mufflerless joyriders…
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High climbers swing through the air: lightbulb-changers, tower repairers, roofers, AC maintainers, pruners, sign installers, awning cleaners.
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Parking-meter police flash yellow signals and punish at random.
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A trash collector snaps open a fresh plastic bag.
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One homeless person picks for food through a garbage container.
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A lone server retrieves used napkins and cutlery from a sidewalk table.
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A mysterious manhole worker peeks out from beneath the asphalt.
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A letter carrier rushes to stay on time.
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Food deliverers white-rabbit from door to door.
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A freelance window cleaner looks for more work.
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A seasonal window slogan painter totes bucket and supplies.
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A meter to meter quarter collector trudges slowly, each coin increasing the pushcart weight.
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High-lamp installers/replacers lean forward atop cherry pickers.
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Orange cone distributors distribute orange cones, seemingly at random.
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Scooter and bike monitors station rental scooters and bikes here and there.
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A strutting tailored-suit-with-briefcase executive dodges his way through this fine mess.
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One police officer in the center lane directs drivers past bent fenders.
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A blue-shirted worker scrubs away the overnight graffiti.
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Delivery trucks block lanes everywhere, accelerating the dynamics of all this manic movement.
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And so on and so forth.
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You see what I mean? We are all pawns of an invisible choreographer, each dancing small steps of life, each attempting to do what needs to be done, each unaware of what the final performance will look like seen from afar.
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We just go on dancing the dance. The longer we do this the better the chance we have of producing a moment of gracefulness that hopefully will please the gods and entertain the pigeons
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Jim Reed © 2021 A.D.
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Weekly Podcast: REDCLAYDIARY