proof the kids all take the trains

happy orange fruit

i'd like to announce that i am pleasantly surprised.

the time put into carving that dear pumpkin really was worth it, for this year, my jack-o-lantern remains unsmashed. that's right. no one threw it against the brick schoolyard wall a few steps down the road. no one stepped on it or kicked in its face. no one stole it. nothing at all has happened to it. i guess brooklyn really has changed.

moving here one month ago, i was somewhat skeptical. growing up, i'd soak up new york city movies that referred to brooklyn as if it were a world away, ghetto, poor, and unruly. even the recent influx of artists in the area did not sooth my uncertainties. artists can be rebellious. in fact, in a way, they should be! hence my shock at finding my apartment on a clean tree-lined street in a neighborhood of recycling fanatics. halloween decor--fake spiderwebs, plastic bats, paper skeletons--went up days before the trick-or-treating began, and now as leaves fall, brooms sweep up the foliage and children get lost in the piles. i love it. and so does my pumpkin.