Two things have conspired to prompt this post. First, I just finished re-reading "Bird by Bird" by Anne Lamott, in an attempt to inspire some writing this year. Get over the fear of bad writing by knowing that bad writing has to come to get to the good writing. Second, I just heard a short presentation on some of Grand Rapids' interesting neighborhoods, and I overheard a remark that "Eastown is sometimes compared to something like the East Village for Grand Rapids." This struck me as funny, but it also reminded me of this short writing project I did last spring. One of my student staff members at Calvin presented a short exercise for new staff members to get familiar with each other by spending 5 minutes writing, with no preparation, about a place from their lives that holds some importance. I decided to join the exercise, and I wrote about Eastown. This is what I wrote, as uncut as I can make myself leave it.
"Eastown is the place where I feel most like I'm in Grand Rapids. My memories of this place go back to about 1984, when I began mentoring my "little brother," Tierre Rogers. Our first meeting was at the McDonald's just west of Fuller, on Wealthy, one of the only McDonalds to ever close a few years later. Ironic that it was a McDonalds that first drew me to this neighborhood, since the real appeal has ever since been the many locally-owned businesses. My other memories of Eastown include bowling at the old bowling alley behind "Just Breakfast" which is now Wolfgangs, seeing the "Return of the Jedi" at the old Eastown Theater, which is now the Uptown Church, meeting friends at Just Breakfast, ice cream at the old Baskin Robbins, which is now the Chinese Restaurant, and of course many many trips to Yesterdog's over the years with friends, my wife, our kids, and even this week, with visitors from Mexico. The smells, sounds, rituals, taste, and general feel of Yesterdog's are a wild combination of about 30 years of memories, ranging from high school craziness to recent recent recent experiences bringing my kids there for birthdays and other occasions - our photos on the wall from the early 1990s become more and more interesting as time goes by. My other memories include running through Eastown on my morning runs, having my UM diploma framed at the Eastown Gallery, eating at the Pita House with SLC staffs, eating at Don Rafavs for Mexican in recent years, beginning new traditions at Brandywine, and taxes..."
Then I ran out of time.
