It's a Memory Worth Revisiting

Days like today make me miss Michigan and more importantly, Kalamazoo. I sat on my rickety pleather bar stool today (though I was, sadly, not in a pub of any sort) looking out the large window at the front of the store watching the snow come down. I laughed at the inches upon inches of snow being pushed from one side of the road to another by the laboring wheels of cars like raw cookie dough. They were cars filled with people who were probably thinking the same thing I was---why aren't the streets plowed? But they continued on their way nonetheless, some with less effort than others and then I got to thinking...
If I were still in Kalamazoo I would probably pack up my laptop, my current read and $4 and head to The Fourth Coast where I would spend the later hours of the evening drinking Fourth Roast while sitting at the bar, writing and being with many of the people I miss. I'd probably be there too long, drink too much coffee and not write enough but every moment would be warm, like a blanket just pulled from the dryer. And after my hands were shaking with a most comfortable twitch of caffiene consumption I would proceed to the door, possibly with a little company and we'd kick in the snow and make trails through the Vine Street neighborhood. Kicking trails would make me think of the trail of balloons that Beth and I once stole from a recently opened cafe in downtown Kzoo. We held them together, a family of 10 helium-filled bulbs or so and then we let them dance behind us while we looked for our fellow kings and queens along the streets of our favored kingdom. And we were queens there, smiling because we did not have courts to rule over but rather other royalty to twist and dream with on porches, in cramped livingrooms and in seas of stale smoke at our favorite coffee shop.


Also:
Heidi Kenney makes cute little plush creations.



Read all about it in my first Arts Lead in City Paper. I'm very excited about it, and did I mention I did the entire interview with her via AOL Instant Messenger? Well I did and not only was Heidi incredibly fun to chat with, but her story is one that should make anyone quit their desk job and take a chance with something they love. Sometimes it works out just right, with all the edges trimmed and the buttons sewed snugly.
With that said I have 2 more nights as a staffmember of the Walnut Street Theatre in hopes of having more time to write about and explore this city that I've recently made my home.