A little background......I have lived briefly in E. Palo Alto(when the police didn't respond to calls there). I spent some time growing up in the Mission and Lower Hayes neighborhoods of San Francisco. For a year, I lived next to a crack house. I have stayed in the rough north african immigrant neigborhoods of north Paris. But on only one other occasion have I been in as dodgy of a situation as when I came up from the Subway station to ask Anne-Lise to pick me up. I'm not ashamed to say, I asked how long she'd be, because I was thinking of waiting in the relative safety of the Subway. However, the wait wasn't long, and I got accustomed to the rythms of the street, even got a few things from the convenience store. I was glad I had my knife on me, though.
When we got to her friend's place, I realized just how cool New York people could be....I think that it is the inherent hostility of New York that breeds such warm people. They might step over your corpse in the street, but once you get to know them, all their pent up humanity bursts forth. This coulple that I met were just wonderful, cooking us up some authentic Arizona black bean, carne, and fresh chile salsa tacos with couscous. They were hilarious, trying to be on their best manners for me, even though I could care less and they were far too stoned to be bothered with such things. After dinner, they showed me the digital recording studio that they had put in the basement, and played some tracks. I can't say how grateful I was to them for dispelling my initial apprehension about NY people, and for being so damn cool. Ended up staying so late socializing, I had to stay at Anne-Lise's. The next day I spent enjoying Central Park.........
