They sat a while in silence,
Then they turned at last to me:
"We will call you Cygnus,
The god of Balance you shall be."
PUBLIC TRANSIT
5:00 am – wake up to the sound of the alarm on my 4-year old dinosaur cell phone. Shower, dress, and drink a protein shake with soy and whey powders from Trader Joes.
5:45 am – leave residence and stand on street corner for 10 minutes waiting for bus. Other people (all Latinos) trickle to the corner one by one, congregating like pigeons in the darkness of pre-dawn. Clench butt-cheeks as a way to keep warm – climate change is a myth!! Take Metro bus 206 south on Normandie deep into the heart of south-central L.A. The seats are hard, but the ride is swift due to light traffic; it’s so early in the morning.
6:25 am – get off bus 206 and run as fast as possible to the red 715 Rapid Bus that’s on the verge of departing. Run harder………….too late, the Rapid Bus takes off too rapidly. Now I gotta wait for the bus 115. It’s freezing cold on that lonely street corner in south-central L.A. And kind of creepy too. But who said public transit wasn’t an adventure? While waiting, pull out i-pod and continue to listen to Amy Goodman on Democracy Now talk about how torture of so called terrorist prisoners has gotten worse under the Obama Administration.
6:40 am – the bus 115 finally arrives. Get on. The ethnic composition on this bus is markedly different from the Latino-majority bus 206. This bus 115 is almost all African-American. Sit down on another very hard seat for the 40 minute ride. Riding on the bus affords one the opportunity to really see a cityscape. In this case, Supernova sees how the economic crisis has shut down many businesses……….empty storefronts abound with ‘For Lease’ signs hanging mournfully in the windows. Heading into Downy there are dozens and dozens of used car lots, many of which have no cars, the car lots abandoned and empty. A young woman has trouble moving her suitcase and many bags out of the bus; help her by moving the suitcase down the bus’s stairwell.
7:30 am – arrive to Downey to participate in the Municipal Green Building Conference & Expo. Key note speakers pontificate about energy, the environment and the state of the planet.
3:00 pm – return to East Hollywood on same route. Supernova sees none of the conference attendees at the bus stop. They all must have gotten to that conference on sustainability in their automobiles.
4:00 pm -- transfer to bus 206, which promptly breaks down 15 minutes into the ride. Get off bus, and wait for next one. Many people that travel on L.A. buses are toughing-looking; the furious energy enraptures them and permeates the bus. If ever the U.S. government decided to crack down on the civilian populace by installing a dictator regime, people who ride public transit would be the most likely to violently revolt and riot against the oppression. Too many tattoos, buzz cuts, sunglasses and hoods on those buses would seriously challenge the National Guard and LAPD’s aggressive tactics. This is why I rarely see so-called ‘white collar’ folks on L.A.’s buses. Cuz many transit-dependent men and women happen to be lower-income and have seen their share of B.S. in life. They are ready to rise up against any regime that dares to oppress them. On the other hand, Metro’s light rail and subway systems carry a broader mix that includes suits and skirts. Those suits and skirts would surely grovel in the hands of the authorities, convinced that their revolutionary bus-dependent brothers and sisters (who happen to have a darker shade of skin color) are terrorists.
5:00 pm arrive to residence with very sore butt, but happy to have once again taken public transit across the sea of L.A.’s concrete jungle. Feeling refreshed, balanced and satisfied despite the long journey.
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