the more things stay the same

i want to admit that since the Disney store closed in Union square i have felt bereft...i know that all the items were made by third world children in sweat shops and i never bought anything in the store despite the clearance sale and the 99 cent eeyores with the purple bows on their tails and the 79 cent merrywhether fairy with the angel wings in green lame....is it because i miss my cheezy southern california roots? i suppose so...but if san fran is nothing like what it used to be, then neither is los angeles and i suppose neither is anywhere...however i happened upon this video of a new york city street in the rain and it looked exactly to me like the new york city streets i experience in August of 1970 when i stayed at the Lexington YWCA on 46th St.

it would rain suddenly, sending steam up from the sidewalk, and end as soon as it began leaving a damp mugginess and a sweet memory of momentary cool...with a hole in my shoe i proceeded with my one purchase, a pair of burgundy suede ankle strap wedgies that were surprisingly comfortable as i walked from one end of new york to the other that August. The details of why I was there involved my wish to attend Design School at Parson, my acceptance there but my inability to fund my living expenses...for young people today...there is no more YWCA, no more inexpensive options except perhaps "hostels"...round once again to my oldsters lament as to how things change...and yet there is no change in our persuasions...we are still racist, prejudiced and sexist...perhaps more than ever...and as for change..i suppose we are more backward...we have advanced backward....soon we will speak of the earth being flat...