San Diego, Ca.
Full of history and Mexicans. This is a city for the indecisive and bipolar. It’s the city that clings to me, like the one that got away. The Shores call to me, claiming what is theirs. The sun shines for me, the very weather tries to please me. In San Diego, you can have whatever you want.
The skaters understand this. So do the surfers, and the potheads, and their girlfriends. These kids all hang out around the beach or in each other’s backyards or sometimes mine and talk about nothing at all because nothing matters when you live this close to the ocean. Don’t get me wrong, these are not paradise beaches. They’re “rugged” according to a travel book I once read, choppy and even dangerous to those that aren’t accustomed. The rocky cliffs threaten death and the sea caves are as alluring as sirens. Stingrays and whites aside, the water is cold all the time.
The water is always damn cold, but it’s not about comfort here. Just let go. Become one with the water, with nature, with yourself. The Pacific wakes you up, slaps you around and demands your full attention. Once you belong to it, you’ll never forget. It’ll cling to you and you’ll remember at the most inopportune moments. But it’s that kind of relationship you secretly like.
All of guys that mow the lawns, and the one who owns Robertos, and his cousin who owns Alejandros, and his friend that owns Don Lucios, all of those guys are hilarious. Who knows if they’re legal or not? Who cares when you live this close to the ocean?
You smoke, swim, eat burritos, and sleep. That’s all there is to teenage life in my hometown. But who cares? When you’re in San Diego, who really cares?
I feel like by the end of the piece you've altered your own voice to fit the personality of San Diego. Very clever.
ReplyDeleteI like this. I've never been to San Diego and I think this is most intriguing is when you describe how the water is always cold. This is paradoxical to someone who has not experienced it; I expect the waters of San Diego to be warm as bathwater, yet they are raw. Something about San Diego all of the sudden seems raw and cold to me as well. I think this is the most interesting aspect you could explore. It's not about apathy is it? It's the dangerous, choppy, thing that "slaps you around and demands your full attention" that which "you remember at the most inopportune moments". Where do these feelings come from BESIDES the ocean?
ReplyDeleteA good start, but still too much in the realm of generalization (history, indecisiveness, bipolar, the weather). What are Roberto's, Alejandro's, Don Lucio's? The subject that you seem most drawn to here is the ocean and the shoreline: enticing, beautiful, but also rugged and dangerous. Rather than tackling the whole of San Diego, you might try exploring further this aspect of it specifically as you know it and what it means to you.
ReplyDelete