Thomas
I met Thomas in the early ’90s on the old Northern Avenue bridge, far enough from the
business district to be rid of the suits. The harbor was stained orange by the street lamps, and
all I really saw was his silhouette, tall and lanky. I probably never would’ve stopped if it wasn’t
for that silhouette. If I’d known then how it would all end I never would have stopped. Or maybe
I would’ve stopped quicker. It scares me sometimes that I can’t even tell.
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A world of the city
Rip Van Winkle took his famous nap on the outskirts of Palenville in the Catskill Mountains. In
Washington Irving's original story, Rip slept for only 20 years, managing to miss the entire
American Revolution in the process. Let us imagine that Rip, being incredibly long-lived due
to his many hours of restorative sleep, is still wandering around the Hudson Valley. How
different it must look to him! The New York City megalopolis alone now holds more Americans
than the Empire State and all of New England did in 1900. Rip has just been the witness to
one of the most dramatic transformations of the last century, the shift from a rural to urban
existence for the vast majority of Americans. In 1900, 60% of the U.S. population was rural.
Today, less than 25% of the population is. It was a transformation that changed the very
character of life for Americans, and drove a series of political and cultural changes that
continue today.
I've heard that Rip Van Winkle has grown tired again. This time, however, in his quest to find a
quiet place to rest his head, he's ventured to a calm spot along the China coast. What can Rip
expect to see when he awakens, another 50 or 100 years hence?
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Columbia
The boy sat drinking his cup of coffee by the cracked window. A wisteria branch had pushed its
way through the crack in the window, widening it. Perhaps it had made the crack. A splash of
purple flowers grew like grapes at its end, filling the cheap college slum with a sickly sweet
smell. The man put down his too new textbook, gulped the rest of his coffee, and stared at the
window. The gap in the window was wide enough that pine pollen entered in little puffs when
the wind blew right, backlit by the sunshine to a golden sheen...
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