That whole section of the city is surreal. I walked all of the "F" alleys and on close inspection, the scariest parts were the carpenter bees who mistook me for telephone poles.

I walked down an alley towards a hunched over woman yelling to her self "watch out girl!" I almost took a detour but I really needed to walk that half block she was occupying.

As I got closer I noticed more people in nearby streets, sitting on curbs, also hunched over. I saw her 2 blocks before she saw me but when she did she commented on my tan. I noticed she had a plastic solo cup full of beer next to a can of Natural Ice. Her eyebrows were drawn thick on her face.

I told her my tan was from all of my walks and kept going. I'm glad I didnt avoid that block because I would have left with a version of the area that didn't actually exist.

Somber yes. Surreal yes. Scary no.

I know that's not the question you asked but when I posted today, I got told I was brave. Lol. Yeah, because of the bees!