Notes from the Field.

I don't know that I've ever mentioned this before but I live in the suburbs, and I had an experience today I thought I'd share with my suburban peeps.

My (mostly) politically incorrect neighbors not withstanding, I enjoy the relative safety of the burbs. I run after dark without worry. I don't know most of my neighbors, but I do know that, probabalistically, they are much more likely to perpetuate violence within their own families than they are toward me. I commute 4 miles across the suburbs to work, against the flow of cars heading down into Albuquerque. I live in a little bubble of safety and security that Sweet Baboo has thoughtfully provided for me and in which I thrive, insulated from the wilds of the metropolitcan goings on.

The Burbs are where I grew up. The same with Sweet Baboo. I said as much when Mini Baboo recently began a school ancestry project and asked me, "Mom, where are our people from?"

"Our people are from the suburbs. As long as there have been suburbs, there have been our people."

I get excited about my occasional excusions into the city. Monday I asked several people about what time I shoudl leave to get to a certain location on time, and most of them sucked air through their teeth and talked about this thing called "Traffic".

Yesterday I headed OUT of the suburbs to a seminar and thought I'd share my experience.

So, if you didn't already know it I'll tell you--there are a lot, I mean a LOT of other people in the city who are apparently trying to drive somewhere at just the same time of the morning, and the appear to be pretty intent on getting there.

It's referred to as "traffic" and it is, on the whole, fairly unpleasant. I honestly don't see how people pull it off, day after day, without reaching for some sort of diversion to numb the whole suckitude. Even NPR can't stop the flood of thoughts and emotions that rush through my head; e.g.,

• Why are you just now trying to turn, from way over there? Didn't you plan your trip?
  
• Why is everyone driving so slowly - surely, there must be some sort of incident ahead? No? Then why is everyone driving so slowly?
  
• Hey, there, you can't just drive past a lone line of stopped cars and try to cut in line like that. No cuts!
  
• My goodness, I think that man was deliberately trying to keep that lady from getting into his lane.
  
• Is he eating and talking on the phone and driving his car? On the freeway?

So, this is my PSA for the month for you. You've been warned.

The more you know.

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