Being the amazing, true-to-life adventures and (very likely) misadventures of a writer who seeks to take his education, activism and seemingly boundless energy to North Minneapolis, (NoMi) to help with a process of turning a rapidly revitalizing neighborhood into something approaching Urban Utopia. I am here to be near my child. From 02/08 to 06/15 this blog pushed free speech to the envelope, so others could take heart and speak unafraid. Email me at hoffjohnw@gmail.com
Saturday, March 7, 2009
My "North Minneapolis Gloves"
About a week ago, I found out I'm not the only one who uses this trick. See, I have a really beat up pair...
...of gloves that should have been thrown away a long time ago except, well, the thing is...I just don't throw away gloves. Even mismatched gloves get tossed in a "glove box" for those really filthy jobs which also have to be performed in cold weather. And then when you lose or misplalce your good gloves...well, time to forage around in the glove box.
But sometimes I have other reasons for wearing my beat up gloves, besides hard and filthy work. A pair of gloves like those pictured above says: I don't have any money. I'm not worth robbing.
Last week, a friend of mine said she uses the same trick, only in her case it's a "North Minneapolis coat."
Now, you might be wondering why I'm sharing my trick on the internet. Well, as one harsh critic of my blog put it so well, "Thank God for the digital divide, huh?"
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
I wear a nasty "don't come near me, or I'll kill ya" look on my face.
I have a crappy old pair of tennis shoes that I wear when I show houses that are foreclosures.
Seriously though, knock on wood, most peeps in North have been very nice to me and my clients.
Maybe I'm crazy, but I just look people right in the face as I approach them, smile, and say, "Hi!" I've never had a problem in seven years here. And sometimes I get a nice smile and a "Hi!" right back.
I can read the 4th Precinct Highlights and look at the crime maps and see how often robbery is taking place all around me, usually with an assault thrown in. I don't live in the bubble called "it won't happen to me, I'll just smile and be nice."
My secret is that I go out in the middle of the night in gaudy outfits and fight crime as "The Mortgage Vigilante." The Equal-Opportunity Housing logo looks REALLY intimidating in spandex.
Oh, and John, you're welcome for getting your gloves back.
Post a Comment