(To learn more about my "blogging the book" challenge to myself, go HERE.)
Wallace Baine is a man who's worn many hats in Santa Cruz. A longtime cultural reporter for the Santa Cruz Sentinel, he's gone on to branch out into many other roles in the community, and is the author of several books as well. So it's a bit of a surprise to find that this cosmopolitan man about town has chosen to write a story about a guy slowly being driven mad by his neighbors' dog. But then again...
Santa Cruz's energy is often warm and friendly.Even Lonely Planet's website still describes Santa Cruz as "touchy-feely." But there's also a vibe here that's its polar opposite. (The fact that this anthology is called "Santa Cruz Noir" is a testament to that.) I found this passage from "Flaming Arrows" striking on this less examined aspect of the area, especially when you get out of the city proper and up into some of those mountain communities.
Nobody knows their neighbors around here. It's not done that way. You might pick up fragments about their habits, their aggressions, their neglects. You make judgments, usually negative ones. You'll see faces occasionally, through a windshield. Give a wave maybe. We get to know each other in personal shorthand. There's leaf-blower guy. There's Giants-fan lady. Maybe I'm wife-died guy. I don't know.
But at the post office, or the Safeway in town, you don't look up. Being neighborly means one thing back in Illinois where I grew up. Here, it means the opposite. You respect your neighbors by not acknowledging them. People want space, physically, psychically. You should give it to them.
The dog ruins all that.
Audible sample of Wallace Baine's "Flaming Arrows" HERE. Performed by P. J. Ochlan.
Wallace Baine is a man who's worn many hats in Santa Cruz. A longtime cultural reporter for the Santa Cruz Sentinel, he's gone on to branch out into many other roles in the community, and is the author of several books as well. So it's a bit of a surprise to find that this cosmopolitan man about town has chosen to write a story about a guy slowly being driven mad by his neighbors' dog. But then again...
Santa Cruz's energy is often warm and friendly.Even Lonely Planet's website still describes Santa Cruz as "touchy-feely." But there's also a vibe here that's its polar opposite. (The fact that this anthology is called "Santa Cruz Noir" is a testament to that.) I found this passage from "Flaming Arrows" striking on this less examined aspect of the area, especially when you get out of the city proper and up into some of those mountain communities.
Nobody knows their neighbors around here. It's not done that way. You might pick up fragments about their habits, their aggressions, their neglects. You make judgments, usually negative ones. You'll see faces occasionally, through a windshield. Give a wave maybe. We get to know each other in personal shorthand. There's leaf-blower guy. There's Giants-fan lady. Maybe I'm wife-died guy. I don't know.
But at the post office, or the Safeway in town, you don't look up. Being neighborly means one thing back in Illinois where I grew up. Here, it means the opposite. You respect your neighbors by not acknowledging them. People want space, physically, psychically. You should give it to them.
The dog ruins all that.
Audible sample of Wallace Baine's "Flaming Arrows" HERE. Performed by P. J. Ochlan.
No comments:
Post a Comment