griggs street ... part two
when boy and i first met each other, it was under a strange pretense. our first dating escapade panned out to nothing, since he was in love with someone else.
five months later, i'd gathered quite a thick film of bitterness and didn't really want to see him ... ever again. fortunately, that didn't stop him from talking to me, apologizing and insisting that we hang out. he needed to find a way to win my trust again, and i needed someone to trust me.
inseparable, the shows, the movies, the late night talks turned into heavy-hearted discussions that lasted until morning. he was trying desperately to get over her, and i helped him. i was trying desperately to get over him, five months late, and he helped me...
as he and i gathered fuel for the world's smallest revolution, a change of tempo, anything. other people begin to join in our nightly journeys through society.
a group of people who slowly begin to resemble the best friends that i ever had. a philosopher, a buddha, a rock star, a goth, a glam, a typical guy, a desert person, a storyteller, and an oracle. there were a few other heroes thrown in there when the time was right for them to arrive and for them to leave. wanderers and nomads, confused and bemused... we welcomed a dj, a masseuse, a politician, an explorer, and quite a few cats.
this atmosphere coagulated in this three bedroom, basement apartment on griggs street. everyone was welcome, as long as you could contribute to the collective thought, motion, party.
our lives begin to change, if only because of each other.
in the middle, boy and i were steady. we were the ones that were constantly there, representing such a delicate balance of friendship.
in the beginning of our new friendship, he was dating a co-worker, and i had a crush on a rather kickin' boy in my shakespeare class. this, however, did not stop us from sleeping in the same bed and spending all of our spare moments together.
at the time, i had no idea what i was doing to myself. i didn't know why i walked through ice and snow for an hour just to get to his apartment at three in the morning. it was just as simple as, i didn't have money for a cab. i'd show up with blue lips and some snacks for the half dozen people who were in the middle of watching "pi" or "south park." all i know, is that when i got there, i opened the door to a warmth and love and feeling that any of you would be lucky to know.
here's the thing, we never tried to do anything. our changes were subtle, but they seeped into the minds around us on a daily basis. despite this vortex of pleasantries every night/morning, i went to class at nine-thirty three times a week. i lived my college life. i sustained my crush on shakespeare boy (who, it turns out, lived on the third floor of the very same building on griggs street). i looked like your average alternawhatever walking down commonwealth avenue with her walkman on and a cigarette dangling from her mouth.
that wasn't the point.
the point is that i looked at things differently. it didn't matter that i was the same, minute, bitchy girl i had always been to my friends outside of griggs. i looked at the world, our society, as if i could help, as if it needed a change, as if we were the ones to do it.
i was walking on a blue screen, and i could paste anything i wanted up there ... "no more yielding but a dream."
