your story book illustrations are amazing. I used to have a book when I was little with womderful pics like that. I think kids would really dig a book like that- no joke.

supporting local businesses. It was even more important to me when I lived on the strip. I always said if I could just take the strip and my old apartment and transplant it into NYC I would be as happy as a pig in mud. I love Buffalo in a co-dependant way and really want the best for it. I always believed there was an amazing community waiting to burst out of the elmwood scene and it just needed some help. It started to emerge right as I moved. Part of this community is knowing your local business people and supporting them. Now I am in Jersey City and I do the same. Big corporations tend to suck everything they can out of a person/community and not give back. My roommate used to work for Macy's. I couldn't believe the stories he told me. ONe time around the holidays (side note- everyone was required to work on saturdays during the time from thanksgiving until after the new year for no additional pay) anyways a rat died overnight. The copywriters came in the next day and saw the rat lying there. So they called maintance. An hour went by, a half day went by, a day went by. My roommate being the funniest guy ever put a tombstone over the rat with RIP BEN on it (Ben being Michael Jackson's infamous pet mouse). then two days go by, my roommate has a memorial service for Ben, stopping everyone to have a moment of silence. Finally three days later the rat gets cleaned up. No one saw the humor in the death of the rat or saw the humor in naming it Ben. Do you think the CEO of Macy's would have stood for having a dead animal in his office for days? No way. But apparently its ok for a salaried worker to have it rot next to him for days. Since I heard that I refuse to shop there, even if they are having a huge sale. So after my long story the point is I am all for localy owned and operated (unless you are Panos of course and are trying to pave the whole city into a parking lot)

So recently I hear about the drive-by in Kenmore. I have so many feelings about this. Why oh why my beloved Kenmore did you have to be ghettofied? I remeber when we used to not let one of our friends, Kristina, sit with us (unless we invited her to) because she lived outside the one square mile that is Kenmore. Me, Paul and Heather used to spend countless hours explaining to her that she did not live in Kenmore and therefore was inferior.

My mother predicted the downfall of Kenmore with the apperance of abandoned shopping carts on every corner. How right she was. Then the Dollar General moved in and kicked out good old CVS. That was strike two. Now with the arrival of the shooting it is strike three. There are tons of cops in Kenmore- why werent they preventing crime? I got harassed by the police all the time when I was a kid for things like going 4 miles over the speed limit, being out past 9 pm with out an adult (when I was 16), sitting in a car in my own driveway (with Paul), parking less than a foot over the sidewalk (me and paul had to go to court for that one- needless to say we won).

My family (the Mang's) are one of the first settlers of Kenmore. They donated the land that St.Paul's now sits on and our home was a historical landmark. The first home in Kenmore also is on my former street. How sad my ancestors would be to see their dream for a quaint village shattered. Ok maybe that was a bit dramatic, but still no one wants the town they founded to be a dump.

My momma moved to Arizona a few months ago- looks like she got out just in time to escape the ghetto that is now Kenmore.

We should do a few things:

1. Plan an all out camping bash before it gets fridgid. If we plan somewhere in the middle of the state we could all meet up in the middle!

2. Have everyone list their top ten movies and books.

Weekend update: My hair is turquoise and black and blonde. I got a lot of flack for it and had to pretend like it was a mistake. Thank god I have the face of an angel so I can get away with it :P Spent all Sunday shopping. I really think I have an addiction. Someone needs to sit me down and talk to me about how I am not a socialite and I can not afford to spend like I do!!! In my mind I justified it by saying I won at Belmont so I can afford to spend. However in reality I only won $50- which is way less than what I spent. Ugh...

Also- Paul if you could find it in your heart to not post the reminants of our shattered relationship that would be great. Thanks! (remember how in '92 we used to say "great thanks" to everyone?- and we wonder why Mike and Sarah turned out the way they did!).

Tommorow I am going to Belmont. I'm not sure how I feel about this considering I don't really believe in horse racing. Why is it that rich people are into the weirdest and most animal cruel sports? Hunting, horse racing, fishing...

out of my mind at work! Anyone have some good ideas how to make a living outside of the office?!

Sqb- I don't know where the other two locations are that you have pictures of. If the church was near the MOMA Manhattan then it has to be on Musemum Mile which is right next to the park.

Speaking of the park I can see it right now. I have a view of it through the office in front of mine. I want to be there and not trapped inside!

Sqb are the B&W photos yours? I only ask because one of them looks like it was taken right outside my building. The one titled "nine lives". I can't imagine that there is another 9 that looks like that. Interesting...

gets yanked I will flip out. Every single person I know who has lived in Buffalo and decided to leave leaves for the same reason. It really is a great place to live (minus the winter tundra that happens for 8 months out of the year) except the city planning at EVERY step goes wrong. Not just wrong but almost comically so. People sit on the monument everyday during the summer and eat lunch- so this is ok, but the crazy concert goers are not ok? Keep in mind these are the same people sitting eating lunch and going to see Thursday in the square. Buffalo is a great place but things like this remind me why I left. If i could live in Buffalo and make a decent living (Im talking 30k) and they cleaned up/revived the city a bit Id live there in a second. It just seems like another victim of old school politics doomed to follow in the same path of cities like Detroit. Poor Buffalo in my heart I still love you!!

Ugh I just had this long post about CL and why it rocks. Basically its all about the housing market. It allows poor suckas like myself to actually find a place w/o paying a scum sucking broker my entire paycheck for the next 4 months so I can live in a rat infested hovel. It by passes the middle man! Plus it is great for passing the time away at work. There are a lot of amusing posts by wackos. So in a nut shell there it is!

Theres now a craigslist for Buf a ho. Does this spell the demise of elmwoodstrip.com?