10/23/00: Signs from the Gods
Every day on my way to the subway, I walk past the high school on the corner. Well really I walk by two high schools, since there are two right next to each other. One, incidentally, is the Fiorello LaGuardia High School for the Performing Arts, a.k.a. "The Fame School." The other is Martin Luther King High School, a.k.a. "The Hell School." That's how I've heard local media refer to it, but it doesn't look too bad to me. What do I know, though.
Anyway, MLK High has a series of large windows on I guess the second floor, and every day, someone inside writes a big word on the windows in masking tape. It is generally something big and empowering. Like "Blossom" or "Yes" or "Try" or "Clarity."
I don't know who chooses the words, or who puts them up. I'm perfectly aware that the words are not really meant to have any meaning to me. In fact often the words are something like, "Welcome Back". But still, I think of the words as a rune to decipher. The whole point of fortune telling is looking into your own mind to make sense of meaningless things.
I'm a little annoyed, though, when the word is "PROM." It stays that way for weeks during prom season. I wonder if it bugs the kids who go there, too. It would have bugged me.