WestwoodSouth CentralLondonCorpus Christi | Night in Westwood: Here, there is no real darkness. Even though a majority of my neighbors are dead (we live across from a cemetery), there is too much light to be fearful of it. There is too much light to let your imagination fill in the haunted blank space. There are hardly any stars here when you look up – a special irony given that I live in Hollywood which is, arguably, the land of the stars. I’ll take a gaseous mass over those kinds of people, though. I dream about water here -- overwhelming and crashing down on me. All I want is to get away. Night in South Central: I can hardly believe anyone can sleep, let alone dream here…and that seems strangely appropriate. The search lights of the helicopters are blinding. When I was a child, living by the sea, I learned to tune out the sound of helicopters. Now, I hear them nightly and all I want is to cover my ears because of what it implies. What must it be like to be a child here? The neighbors play 90s R&B and laugh but their love is so jagged and rough. I can hear a man berating his child for some made up act of stupidity. The admonishment in his voice reminds me of my father. Night in London: I remember the cold and the soft glow of everything. We sang in Covent Garden. We left a play and I couldn’t believe the stillness of such a massive, bustling city. At night, it was almost desolate. We wandered the streets, in search of an open bar and barely made last call. It was achingly quiet and the entire place felt like a museum when we off the beaten track. I ate chocolate and stood idly while Big Ben chimed and masses of tourists took pictures one night. But this night felt different. We were staying by St. Paul’s and as these monuments shot in the sky, the spire piercing the horizon, I kept thinking of the end of the world. Night in Texas: When I was younger, I often ran away to the bay when I felt overwhelmed. There was something about going to the sea and feeling small that set the world right again. At night, you couldn’t tell where the sky ended and the sea began. Stars glittered like jewels and there were so many of them, you couldn’t help but laugh and feel a part of something bigger than yourself. |