The House

At the Stoneybrook Neighborhood Association meeting in December, I met someone who used to live in the building next door to me and through our conversation discovered a bit more about the history of both buildings. Fifteen years ago when he bought the place, it had reputation as a drug house and had been condemned by the city. Just as Frank began to rehab it, a local film-maker asked if he could use it to shoot a scene film he was making. Frank had already begin cleaning up the place when they asked if they could add some the graffiti to portray the blight of the main character’s neighborhood of Dorchester.

In 1997, the file Squeeze came out and in one of the first scenes, the three friends walk past my place and onto the porch of the building next door, where they stand talking with my porch in the background. The porch was remodeled recently, so looks a bit different, but the tan shingles are very recognizable.

For a low-budget film, it’s quite well done, though difficult to watch with it’s gritty portrayal of gang violence and urban social decay. Finding out how my place became the backdrop to the film also helps me appreciate how much work my neighbors put into the street before I arrived.

Just a little video to introduce you to my place:

In the space of two hours on Friday afternoon, I closed on a condo in Jamaica Plain and picked up a fixed gear bike at Ace Wheelworks in Somerville. Sorry to drop this news on you without any run-up, but that's just the way it has to be. I can't really explain why I haven't written about any of this all summer, but it was apparently too much to both blog about major life decisions and make them at the same time.

Buying this condo happened rather quickly--I got my real estate agent on June 21 and I closed on August 24th--so I haven't had time for much else besides work, dissertation, and a bit of summer fun here and there. I realized during this process that I've been unconciously cultivating an image of myself as a rootless nomad, about to pick up and move at any moment, when in fact there's little evidence for this--after all, I lived in my place in Allston for 7 years. But it was a frame of mind that I think grew from the kind of transient neighborhood Allston was and from my ongoing ambivalence about being in Boston.

But now I'm settling in, at least for the time being, and it feels good. I'm excited about my little corner of JP with it's Minton Stables community garden and Franklin Franklin just a short walk in either direction. I'm excited about the chance to learn from being in a vibrant urban neighborhood, and trying a new relationship to place.

I closed on Friday and moved in on Saturday, which happened to be the hottest day of summer. In a true test of friendship, Cathy, Nirmal, Cheryl, Andy, Alan all showed up to give me a hand, and we managed to sweat our way through the move in an efficient three and half hours. Thanks everyone--it was a great way to start things off.

I'm also beginning a new relationship with my bike--a fixed gear Redline 9-2-5 --which has been a joy to ride so far. I'm still getting used to the new connection we have, in particular the obligation to keep peddling--all the time--but it's clearly the best way to commute every day in all weather without the hassles of unnecessary maintenance.

I'm finding that a bit of fixity can be a good thing, whether it be in mortgages or gears, and I'm glad to have the chance to experience both.

Some evenings when I walk up the steps to our house, I can see Dave sitting at his easel painting, his figure framed by the window and lit by his nearby lamp. He's a portait painter, and the  faces he creates fill our dinning room with color and life.

A couple months ago, I purchased my first piece of art, a piece called "Thistlefield" by Grant Hanna, a talented young student of my friend Tim. Once I find a suitable frame, it will hang in my room near the door, and I look forward to having it in my personal space, causing me to stop and admire it's intricate detail and vibrant colors.

Tonight I'm sitting on the porch enjoying the warm summer breeze while working online for the first time--thanks to the wireless network I finally set up last night. I just never bothered to set one up, since our wired network has served us just fine, but now that my third floor room has reached oven-like temperatures, I decided it was time to give myself a bit more mobility to work in other (cooler) parts of the house. For only $40 bucks and about an hour of my time, it will definately be worth it.

What strikes me about this relatively modesty technological advance is not how easy it was but how long I was willing to put up with sitting in one place in my room, even after I had grown used to working in many other places with wireless networks. I've been so thoroughly conditioned to work around what's convenient for computers that I often forget to demand more user-centered experience from the tools I use.