)(( hannah mello ))(

a Book, a City, & the Real ///

a BOOK.

Asher Quell.
My coworker, resident of the Village.
Over 50 years old-ish, I think.
He is the one that introduced to me this book and it's series:
"Tales of the City".

(Click on the title there, for the linked Wikipedia info on it... It was released fragment-ally at first in the San Francisco Chronicle and then compiled-- the first 3 books happened that way, and then 4 more followed... 7 total.)

I have since finished the first book, am 1/2 way through the second, and have the 3rd ready and waiting, issued from Asher today.

I love it. And I love the characters. Every lifestyle, creed, background, vulnerability set. I love it. I love people. I love characters. Sure, I don't agree with, promote, or align with the characters often times, but they represent, in part or in whole, characters that surround us in this life often and always.

"Tales of the City"-- because it was first released in short, newspaper column worthy form-- falls into the feel of a short story, although it's a novel.

I love the genre of short story.
The character feel/connection/taste has to be well-presented and immediate.
The context,
the crisis/problem,
the process,
the climax, and
the resolution
all happen directly and succinctly--
fast & to the point.
Every word counts.

What I also love about "Tales of the City" is that there are LITERALLY 13 MAIN CHARACTERS. Their lives matter matter matter in the story. Each one is your favorite. You care. You follow their lives. They are each the story.

_______________________________________


a CITY.

Similarly, I find myself in a city.
Not San Francisco, but New York City.

This photo was taken by me Monday night, just after getting off work, wandering through the park at sunset-- a sunset over Jersey City. Here is pictured an old woman and a young woman, not having arrived together, not knowing each other, just serendipitously symbolically present together-- two sides of life sitting on two sides of a bench.

Everywhere I go in this city, there are multiple sides of life side by side.
No, not TWO sides like the photo, but 1000 different sides to life, side by side.
Like a diamond's angles... each catching light molecules in the air differently.

Sure, San Fran had diversity at its height in the 70's-80's, but
New York has diversity at its forever high.
Like Joe said (the traveling Londoner, Jewish, documentary filmmaker, Law student grad), what makes New York as being New York is the sense of ownership and home that people feel for the city. You can feel it as you walk down the street.

__________________________________

the REAL.

I find myself also in the Real "Tales of the City".
Every word counts.
Every person is a character and
every character MEANS SO MUCH--
each is a main character.
Every character IS the story.

I've learned something gigantic this week. Between a little French cafe & a Chelsea bar (2 different nights of conversation with the same person, namely Joe), I learned that characters who ARE characters that have character have to have gone through pain. Maybe not physical pain, but definite, concrete crisis of some kind. And... they had to have not just gone through it, but gone through it. They have to have gone through it-- themselves. Truthfully. That brokenness of soul, that weathering & wounding makes a character WITH character. Age or formula doesn't make a character, but a level of being in the world makes a character.

(ah... Dan Allender's talk at the 2002 Willow Creek Leadership Summit about "Character" was SO WONDERFUL. He was the one that said that to have character, first of all, you must BE a character... he first introduced to me the juxtaposition of the meaning of the 2 nouns... powerful.)

Shaun. One of my coworkers. 25. On security at the museum. He's one of the main characters. You know when you just sense someone's strength as a character with character? Not perfection. Character.

Shaun talked to me today about "sometime-'n" someone. Like "two-time'n" (cheating on someone), but "sometime'n". He defines it as being inconsistent. Sometimes saying hello. Sometimes being nice. And other times, just walking on by. Sometimes just acting like the person doesn't exist. Sometime'n. Sometime'n.

We talked about 2 of the worst things in this world:
1. Sometime'n -- Hypocrisy
2. Misunderstanding -- Making Assumptions/Judgments AND THEN acting on them.

__________________________________________

a Book, a City, & the Real ///

I'm so grateful to be reading the "Tales of the City" series.

I'm absolutely overwhelmed with the joy that New York is.

I'm honored to be included in the tales of this city.

These tales are my own as much as they are shared. Shared with Shaun. Martha. Virgil. Semple. Danny/Boby. Shirley. Angel. Julio. Jackie. Clarence. George. Ronique. another George. Jason. Bridget. Eugene. Asher. Joel. Adam. Gerard. Fanny. Origins (a Faith Community) and the Missional Culture group on Wednesday nights. Fattima. Mira. Ken. Joan. Nate. James. Diganit. Paula. Jose. Chris. Dave. Anthony. Missy. Warren. Lawrence. Aurelia. Liz. Murray. Gary. Anthony. AND ALL THEIR FAMILIES AND THEIR STORIES.

My cup overflows.

A toast to this season of past, present, and future intersection.
A toast to a book, a city, & the reality of characters.
Cheers to all that makes up this life--
all the stories intersecting and overlapping stories.

posted by )(( hannah mello ))( @ 6:20 PM