obama

[nibot]

>>I spent my first night in Manhattan curled up in an alleyway. It wasn't intentional; while still in LA, I had heard that a friend of a friend would be vacating her apartment in Spanish Harlem, near Columbia, and that given New York's real estate market I'd better grab it while I could. An agreement was reached; I wired ahead with the date of my August arrival; and after dragging my luggage through the airport, the subways, Times Square, and across 109th from Broadway to Amsterdam, I finally stood at the door, a few minutes past 10 PM.

I pressed the buzzer repeatedly, but no one answered. The street was empty, the buildings on either side boarded up, a bulk of rectangular shadows. Eventually a young Puerto Rican woman emerged from the building, throwing a nervous look my way before heading down the street. I rushed to catch the door before it slammed shut, and, pulling my luggage behind me, proceeded upstairs to knock, and then bang, on the apartment door. Again, no answer, just a sound down the hall of a deadbolt thrown into place.

New York. Just like I pictured it. I checked my wallet--not enough money for a motel. I knew one person in New York, a guy named Sadik whom I'd met in LA, but he'd told me he worked all night at a bar somewhere. With nothing to do but wait, I carried my luggage back downstairs and sat on the stoop. ...

It was well past midnight by the time I crawled through a fence that led to an alleyway. I found a dry spot, propped my luggage beneath me, and fell asleep, the sound of drums softly shaping my dreams. In the morning, I woke up to find a white hen pecking at the garbage near my feet. Across the street, a homeless man was washing himself at an open hydrant and didn't object when I joined him.<<

Barack Obama, Dreams from My Father, pages 113-118. I think this anecdote took place in 1981.

Comments

[erinmack.livejournal.com]

Nice to know the prez kept it real once upon a time.

[aepfelx.livejournal.com]

you seem to have gotten infected with Das Deutscherpunktuationitis while on the road. you should see a specialist about that.

those of us unaccustomed to said condition easily miss the punctuation and assume the first-person account is from your own first person and only notice the postscriptum half way through writing a comment about nj crashspace being available and being superior to harlem alleys

[easwaran.livejournal.com]

While Tobin's writing skills are good, the style doesn't match.

But maybe I just say that because I recognize the passage. I read the book just over a year ago and was remarkably impressed by our President's writing abilities. If he hadn't gone into politics and community service, I'm sure he could have been quite a decent novelist.

[vyncentvega.livejournal.com]

I like the snippet.

But, pages 113—118 for these four paragraphs? Is this book printed in 72-point font or something? Oh wait, I missed the ellipsis. Wow, three pages' worth of "..." before the story was concluded!

[nibot.livejournal.com]

In between there's a digression in which he wonders about his father back in Kenya, etc.

I like knowing that this president at one time slept in an alleyway with a chicken and bathed at a hydrant with a bum. If George W ever had a similar experience, I'm sure it was as some kind of fraternity hazing.

[joneshead.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that is very New York. I am in full recognition of the term "concrete jungle" Amidst the complex structures of belonging in place, there is still a rather wild outdoors.

[in-alaska.livejournal.com]

Am I too Unamerican to get why this is cool? I find this a bit lame and not particularly well written. But then, it's not fiction and he's not a writer... so it's okay for a president, I guess.