A Remedy for Claustrophobia (September 30, 2005)

I missed my first two classes today, for a good reason though. Decided that I needed to go to the library downtown because I couldn't get the book that I needed from the library here, and to be honest every few days I need to get off campus because it makes me claustrophobic. I was going to do the whole park and ride thing, but when I got to my car the battery was dead, I left my lights on. It'll be hard to get a jump parked where I am, hopefully I can get it into neutral and just roll it down and then have somebody jump it for me. I really hope that works, because if it doesn't I'll have to have people there to push it.
I ended up taking the gold line to the Forest Park Station and then taking the Metrolink from there. I love public transportation, brings people together, also because it's so much easier to think since I don't have to worry about driving and parking, all I have to do is have enough sense to get off where I'm supposed to. I love cities too, I don't really care about the size of the skyline, as long as there is one. I like to get lost in between skyscrapers, I love old ass brick buildings that look like shit on the outside but look good on the inside. I love going into the city in the morning, the sun's up but it's not at it's highest, and usually it's windy as hell cuz of the buildings and we're close to water. I got to the library quickly, walked on Pine and then turned onto Tucker and then onto Olive. There weren't many bums laying on the benches in the park today, just the usual variety of old bag ladies and ex-cons, with a single teenager sitting listening to headphones.
I love the downtown library, it's old and beautiful, the building is damn near regal, at least in my eyes (it ain't a metaphor for how uplifting books are, I really do think the building looks nice). I got in and out quickly though, I returned my old book and asked the lady at the desk to retrieve the new one that I wanted from the central stacks. I could not have been there more than 10 minutes. I walked out of the library hoping to get back to school in time to catch a little bit of finance.
There are a couple of things that catch my eye every time I go to the library. One of them is a sign that says Art and Soul Cafe, I'm guessing that it's next to the church that is right across the street from the library. I want to go there, it sounds nice, I'm hoping it's not part of the church because while that may provide the extra soul it'll probably take a little bit away from the art, and besides I'm not looking for the type of soul that church can provide. I finally wrote down the information to see the website for it, I'll probably look at it some time tomorrow. The second thing that catches my eyes is this one deli that is on 11th and Olive, the 2 cents pantry (or something like that). It was in a one of those tall brick buildings that the city was rapidly turning into lofts. In fact, the building they occupied had just been sold and they were going out of business (read that as being kicked out) so they could make so more lofts for the young professionals the city was hoping to attract in an effort to bring a new heyday to St. Louis. It's ironic because inside there are all these pictures and knick knacks and antiques from St. Louis' previous heyday, back from around the early 1900's til around 1920, probably a little beyond then I suppose. It seemed like a fun time to be in city (if you were white of course), it's a little sad how most of the cities in the Midwest deteriorated, the whole white flight thing, plus the moving of all the industries, and the total abandoning of the cities by the state governments. St. Louis, Milwaukee, Gary, Detroit, Cleveland, and countless other cities suffered the same fate. Chicago was spared because it at least had the finance industry to keep it going, besides Chicago is too large for something like that to effect it. If Black people moved into one neighborhood, white people didn't have to leave the city, they could just move to another section. Of course, countless white people did leave the city, but there was more than enough white people and business for the city to remain prosperous. In the smaller cities their only fate was white people moving to the suburbs and businesses either leaving with them to the outskirts, or moving down South where they could exploit workers for much less.
I always seem to get away from myself. Anyway, I walked into the deli and suddenly got incredibly hungry at the sight of all the meats and cheeses and so after I was done looking at all the antiques and pictures I ordered a pastrami on rye without even looking at how much it was, I figured it was the least I could do, they probably hadn't had a customer in weeks. The cashier/counter worker eagerly started making my sandwich and as he cut the pastrami I finally decided to look up at the prices, and what I saw almost killed me. A pastrami sandwich was 5.50. A momentary lapse in my normally frugal ways had cost me 6 bucks, for a fuckin sandwich. I was about to tell him nevermind and walk straight out the door, but I didn't have the heart. They were going out of business and every sale they made could have been their last. So instead, I just sat quietly and paid the 6 bucks for the sandwich, praying that it was good so at least I could say I ate well. I should have asked for one of the knick knacks as part of the meal, it was the least they could do, I was probably going to be their last customer ever. With prices like that no wonder.
The last thing that caught my eye while I was walking back to the 8th and Pine Station was this one bar called Tanner B's. I had walked past it earlier and saw a flyer on the front door in passing, but didn't really pay it any attention. When I came back though I looked at it again. It was a flyer for Hoosierweight Boxing, I guess it's just some local fights that are put on down on the south side of the city. I'm a huge boxing fan and I wrote down all of the information for the flyer. In the mean time, one of the bartenders came out to check out what exactly this short black man was doing in front of his bar at 11 o'clock in the morning. He was relieved to see that I was just writing down the information for the fights, and he started to tell me a little bit about them. After I finished writing down the information I went through the usual dilemma of trying to find someone who would come with me. It's always a hassle, I always come up with a few names besides my closest friends. Some people will say yes because they're nice and I appreciate it, but I would much rather go with someone who is an actual boxing fan like me, just so we could talk about the fights, among other things, while we're there. As long as the conversation flows smoothly I don't really have a problem, but a smooth flowing conversation and a recognition of jabs and parries is much better.
I finally got back to the Eighth and Pine Station and finally got down to eating my sandwich. It was pretty good, the only bad thing I could say about it was that the bread was a little gummy, not tough like rye bread should be. It beats the hell out of the chain deli's, but it doesn't fuck with Jake's or any of the other city deli's. But overall it was a nice sandwich and I figure that it was worth half of the 6 dollars I spent, no mean feat for food.