I love what you did with “I like your outfit.” Such a turn of thought, then events, all because you were open enough to hear the subtext you created and then respond. This is just one example of what you do all the time in your snaps and what makes them both shine and ache with humanity.
And congrats of the Zine piece! I can’t wait to read!
This visual 🤣🤣She wore the low-hanging poopy-pants that middle-aged yoga teachers wear, and a short-waisted pleather jacket popular in 1983. I steered clear.
I'm reminded of the time, walking down the street in Berkeley, when a car backfired and I grabbed my friend and pulled her down into the gutter because other people also ducked down low, and there was no way to know whether it was a car or a gun. Ah, American life!
I love how your Snaps, almost all of them, remind me of something or somewhere in my past, I love how punchy they are... cinematic clips so far from my life now. I had to pick up my daughter and her bestie from Toulouse last weekend, I reckon if you'd been with me you could have noted 100 moments to write about whereas I just wanted to hug the trees that looked so sad and poisoned! Maybe I'll try though...
“Can you get me some orzo?” I loved that! But then I wonder just how many homeless are from wealthy homes that know about these things - I can get it for love nor money here...
"I watched them, all nicely dressed, groomsmen from a wedding or some formal gathering, running at top speed, their coats flying in the back like capes. I waited for the sound of a shot or of screeching brakes, a car hitting flesh, but it didn’t happen, just a crowd of people bent sideways watching them run down Sunset, the culprit fleeing, people screaming, all hysterical birds." It's just astonishing how you transform this scary moment into a moment of filmic beauty and dark humour. I find myself imagining them running like that for ever, transformed like characters from Ovid into part of the natural world.
Ha. I didn’t mean that I had forgotten that I wrote them. I just meant I hadn’t thought of them as parking lot stories… I always thought of them in terms of the people in them, so when they popped up with that search, I realized I had a few!
Parking lots give more than they receive. One pre Christmas morning I parked in the second Ave lot third story up and looked out over the street at at the apartment window opposite. To my surprise open it was and there was a clause to be seen. A woman removed her clothes. A gift of Venus on a Santa Monica half shell framed with glitter and gold. Never know what a parking lot will hold. Merry Christmas. 🎁 the story was true.
All three are so evocative, Deirdre. I was thinking while reading this how often the action in US dramas takes place in a parking lot. (Not just US, but in the UK we call them car parks!)
Orzo is just so specific!
I love what you did with “I like your outfit.” Such a turn of thought, then events, all because you were open enough to hear the subtext you created and then respond. This is just one example of what you do all the time in your snaps and what makes them both shine and ache with humanity.
And congrats of the Zine piece! I can’t wait to read!
This visual 🤣🤣She wore the low-hanging poopy-pants that middle-aged yoga teachers wear, and a short-waisted pleather jacket popular in 1983. I steered clear.
I'm reminded of the time, walking down the street in Berkeley, when a car backfired and I grabbed my friend and pulled her down into the gutter because other people also ducked down low, and there was no way to know whether it was a car or a gun. Ah, American life!
I love how your Snaps, almost all of them, remind me of something or somewhere in my past, I love how punchy they are... cinematic clips so far from my life now. I had to pick up my daughter and her bestie from Toulouse last weekend, I reckon if you'd been with me you could have noted 100 moments to write about whereas I just wanted to hug the trees that looked so sad and poisoned! Maybe I'll try though...
“Can you get me some orzo?” I loved that! But then I wonder just how many homeless are from wealthy homes that know about these things - I can get it for love nor money here...
Great writing Deirdre. Always !
Thanks Susie. I think it's the same, we write about the things that speak to us. I want to go to Toulouse with you!
I’d love that!!
"I watched them, all nicely dressed, groomsmen from a wedding or some formal gathering, running at top speed, their coats flying in the back like capes. I waited for the sound of a shot or of screeching brakes, a car hitting flesh, but it didn’t happen, just a crowd of people bent sideways watching them run down Sunset, the culprit fleeing, people screaming, all hysterical birds." It's just astonishing how you transform this scary moment into a moment of filmic beauty and dark humour. I find myself imagining them running like that for ever, transformed like characters from Ovid into part of the natural world.
Thank you Jeffrey, that’s such a beautiful thing to say, I love that.
Awesome work!
Thank you.
You forgot that you wrote about these parking lots. Damn. You’ve forgotten more of your own good writing than I’ve ever written.
Ha. I didn’t mean that I had forgotten that I wrote them. I just meant I hadn’t thought of them as parking lot stories… I always thought of them in terms of the people in them, so when they popped up with that search, I realized I had a few!
Parking lots give more than they receive. One pre Christmas morning I parked in the second Ave lot third story up and looked out over the street at at the apartment window opposite. To my surprise open it was and there was a clause to be seen. A woman removed her clothes. A gift of Venus on a Santa Monica half shell framed with glitter and gold. Never know what a parking lot will hold. Merry Christmas. 🎁 the story was true.
Sometimes dreamy things happen.
Wonderful Deirdre. I liked the back story you imagined for the Orzo guy. It felt real.
All three are so evocative, Deirdre. I was thinking while reading this how often the action in US dramas takes place in a parking lot. (Not just US, but in the UK we call them car parks!)
Yes, just the sound of a car carrying around the ramp instantly pops into my head when i see the words parking lot
Excited to read this!
Magic. Really love these, Deirdre. The end of the Orzo piece… 🪽