Tomorrow I leave Albuquerque (BURQUE) for the first time since I got here! I have been localizing and ingratiating myself into this city for almost two months. It's practically in my bones. Why, one small section of Central Ave. in downtown ABQ has almost become my stomping grounds for heavens sakes! Tonight I went into the Anodyne (My absolute favorite bar in town --of the three I've been to) and the waitress actually addressed me by name! I am used to biking without a bike lane, to the sun shining, and to those weird purple and green lights they shine on the bank offices at night. I'm also growing accustomed to a preoccupation with designer coffee flavors such as "pumpkin spice" and "persian vanilla almond honeysuckle." Today I not only learned what a pinon nut was--I also got to try a free sample, handed to me by an old man, on the bus! I've been eagerly pedaling/bussing around town in order to teach kids art only to be reminded that I have no business making a syllabus at all- especially around Halloween! But I've found, all the same, that the kids are accepting me and pulling me into their world just as small mushrooms would accept and suck in a small and rather damp lake. Although I principally identify as "artist" I am not "Picaso," nor have I "cut turquoise" as yet another old man on the bus unintentionally reminded me today. But I wear turquoise, I talk to the old men on the bus, I seek out and cling to the organic food stores, I also eat tacos from sketchy little stands by the side of the road, I try to swear in Spanish, and I drink Shiner's instead of Pabst. I think I've really melded myself in.
Therefore, I am thoroughly interested in unsticking myself from the streets of ABQ and witnessing the much dreamed of desert. I am equally curious to see what wonders await in the fine city to which I'll be traveling to post-haste, ...Gallup!
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