Friday’s buscapdes: that little girl’s future and an ambivalent thought about some riders:
That adorable little girl and her mother were on the bus again this morning, front row seat on the right side of the bus walking toward the back. They both had their hair pulled up in what I would describe as too loose to be a bun, but too high to be a ponytail. I imagined them at home this morning—standing side-by-side in some mirror, mirroring each other’s ‘do. “Mommy, tell me all your hair secrets so mine can be just like yours when I grow up.”
The little girl had a red and white NC State ribbon-type hair clip holding hers up. The mother had on a red NC State hooded sweatshirt, and some kind of badge around her neck, one whose strap was red and white and said NC State on it as well.
So cute together. I sat behind them a couple of rows, and could hear the little one being her animated self, and I wondered, “When she’s old, and her mother either has Alzheimer’s, is on her deathbed, or long dead, will she think back on ‘those wonderful days when I used to ride the bus with my mother every day,’ and smile?”
At one of the “joint” stops—that is, those at which the stop is for both the city bus and NC State’s “Wolfline” bus—two of about six people got on the bus, both students, as I saw them flash their NC State IDs to get on free.
I had an ambivalent thought about the rest: If all of the students knew they could ride the city bus for free, the city bus would have a lot more riders and at times it would be crowded on this bus. Also if fewer people rode the Wolfline it would probably look bad on their usage numbers and the busline might become a candidate for future cost-saving considerations.
According to the tracker on my blog (to the right there), someone accessed my blog at 2:00 in the morning from Niceville, Florida. What a great name for a city. I wonder if it is.
Looks like it might nice, if the city’s welcome page is any indication (click image to view page):
Today’s James Baldwin essay was, “Fifth Avenue, Uptown: A Letter From Harlem.” Two things struck me the most in this essay:
- “I know Negroes who prefer the South and white Southerners, because ‘At least there, you haven’t got to play any guessing games!'” What stands out about this to me, for I’ve certainly heard this sentiment, is that the notion was observed in print in 1960.
- “Negroes represent nothing to [Northerners] personally, except, perhaps, the dangers of carnality. He never sees Negroes. Southerners see them all the time. Northerners never think about them whereas Southerner are never really thinking of anything else. Negroes are, therefore, ignored in the North and are under surveillance in the South, and suffer hideously in both places. Neither the Southerner nor the Northerner is able to look on the Negro simply as a man.”
I also read, “The Negro Problem,” a short interview with James Baldwin by François Bondy. This piece made me wonder if James was out at the time of the writing, which was in 1964. My guess is no.
I caught the 6:30 bus home and did a little bit of work on grants for Manbites Dog for our board meeting tomorrow.