Remembrances of CTA Experiences Past

Still struggling to get this blog going, still posting previous writings. This one from 2009 or 2010, its genesis an email to someone very, very dear.

When I got to work yesterday, my favorite colleague, who lives in Rogers Park and whom I'd see on Red Line and the 95E bus every so often, back when that was my way to work from Albany Park, reported that he watched a man get off the bus he himself was about to board and head toward the el turnstyle. The man was trailing blood with every step and had left a puddle of the stuff behind him. The busdriver said the man had been shot in the foot, which was why, other than the trail of bloody footprints, he looked like any old CTA customer. 

This is one of the many reasons I hate living on the SW side. If I still lived in Albany Park, I wouldn't just hear such stories, I'd get to live them. And I'd get to enjoy all my old el friends, like the "fruits and chews" man, the portly gentleman selling body oil, the dude hawking DVDs. I'd get to watch the Great Migration of whites from the train as it passed through downtown heading south. I'd get to enjoy singing Sarah Vaughan and Jerry Lee Lewis songs, loudly, on those mornings when I was the only one in the car south of 79th Street. 

Now all I have are the hysterical storefront and church signs all along the 87th St. bus route. And, if I get on early enough, this bizarre 60-something matron, the only other white person on the bus, who my colleagues are convinced is trying to recruit me for a threesome with her husband. Talk about incentive to get off (the bus). I want to ask her, look, lady, what do you think you see in me that may or may not be there?

And then I get to wait for the King Drive bus. Every couple of weeks or so somebody leaves lots of gay men's newspapers/magazines/"Big Bear" and drag queen conference advertisements on the bus stop bench. I enjoy reading them while I wait. On nice days, I walk the mile from 87th to 95th. Everyone says hello from their front porch. 

The hello part is nice.