Back in Berkeley

How can I possibly sum up the spirit of this town in a few short paragraphs? I haven't even lived here two years, but it has already made a deep and lasting impression. Returning to Berkeley from a week in New York was like...(insert metaphor). I had a great time seeing all my students again today, and now DeAndre and I have decided to write a song together. Vamos a ver como nos sale. Driving back from his house, I decided to go to that ninth wonder of the world, the Berkeley Bowl, to do my grocery shopping. I'm not gonna lie, I usually go to Safeway, and as I was circling and circling in the tiny overcrowded parking lot, I was reminded why I usually save the Bowl for special occasions. After a long day of work, who wants to spend twenty minutes waiting for parking? But as I contemplated getting upset at the impractically small parking lot, a wave of serenity and understanding came over me, and I realized that the Bowl simply does not bend to the will of Mainstream America, and it exhorts its customers to do the same.

"I'm going to take pride in the fact that it takes me longer to park, because I'm doing it for a cause - this is organic slow food shopping - it's as much for my soul as it is my palate."

And so my eyes feasted upon the endless rows of exotic fruits and dozens of varieties of garden vegetables, and I bought with abandon, and returned to my car happy. As I drove up Parker St., I saw a tall blonde in black shades and a designer outfit who looked like she was heading for the nearest mall, but as she whizzed by me on her skateboard, I could only chuckle to myself and shake my head because Berkeley had upended the tables again. Where else in America - where else on earth does such a mad menagerie of people flaunt their uniqueness with such style? Skaters and mohawks, tattoos and Telegraph, hoodies and dreads, art cars and graffiti, grills and geoscience! I pride myself on the fact that I'm now a part of Berkeley's underground flamenco scene, because I wouldn't be justified in calling myself a true Berzerkleyian if all I did was teach during the day and do lesson plans at night. That being said, I'm blogging again instead of working, but who can blame me? I'm just trying to represent the beauty of the Bay Area in the short time I have left here. Love to all my relations.