The Man Who Fell in Love with the Moon

Sarah has been reading this book, a favorite of a friend of ours. It's set in a tiny town in Idaho. I've been enjoying a second hand reading.

Whitman on metaphysics

The Base of All Metaphysics

And now gentlemen,
A word I give to remain in your memories and minds,
As base and finale too for all metaphysics.

(So to the students the old professor,
At the close of his crowded course.)

Having studied the new and antique, the Greek and Germanic systems,
Kant having studied and stated, Fichte and Schelling and Hegel,
Stated the lore of Plato, and Socrates greater than Plato,
And greater than Socrates sought and stated, Christ divine having
    studied long,
I see reminiscent to-day those Greek and Germanic systems,
See the philosophies all, Christian churches and tenets see,
Yet underneath Socrates clearly see, and underneath Christ the divine I
    see,
The dear love of man for his comrade, the attraction of friend to friend,
Of the well-married husband and wife, of children and parents,
Of city for city and land for land.

Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass (Project Gutenberg)

vodka induced domestic dispute

Something woke me from my comfortable slumber. Muffled voices were yelling at one another. Listening more carefully I could make out the recurring "you're always this", "you did that".

We've heard these neighbors yelling like this before, thankfully during the day. I think the woman keeps threatening to leave. It sounds like she probably should, if only to let the neighbors sleep soundly.

Once I thought I had identified the noise I fell back to sleep.

This morning Sarah and I headed out the door for a morning run. There on the lawn the sure signs of the dispute I'd envisioned, a large empty vodka bottle lying on the grass.

Since we've moved into this neighborhood nearly four years ago, we've had our jeep broken into twice and the stereo stolen. The coffee shop a block away has been vandalized. Two houses burned down a few blocks away from us. Recently the Subway sandwich shop nearby was robbed by armed gunmen.

The only thing that's really required much from us was when a woman knocked on our door one evening requesting we help her. She said her husband or boyfriend was crazy and threatening violence. We called the police non emergency line to get some advice and she called another friend who met her at her house about an hour later. She was moving out of the house so hopefully that situation has been resolved.

The odd thing is that all this makes it sound as if I live in a terrible neighborhood. Supposedly I live in a rich neighborhood and the police say that's what attracts the crime. I love my neighborhood. The neighbors that I know are really cool, the types of people who seem well equipped to help handle tough situations and willing to lend a hand. Perhaps that's necessary here.