alexandra: living in the glass city

Today a longtime friend and i were approved to rent, for a grand total of 900 dollars a month, a 1700 sq ft loft apartment over a shop on the best block in downtown toledo. i know what you're thinking, that saying "the best block in downtown toledo" is the equivalent of being excited about getting "the least green slice of salmon sashimi," but there's a movement in this town, an uprising of broke-ass artists, musicians, writers, and performers who cant stand the pressure of new york nor the politics of los angeles to make a haven for themselves. downtown toledo, which was - no exaggeration, not hyperbolically - an empty place when i left it, is catching the fire of this spirit and slowly, but effectively, supporting these creatives and is filled to near-bursting with their passion.

Now, downtown toledo has almost every loft and apartment rented to 20something creatives, who create just to create.

fuck an audience.

fuck getting press.

they dont care about that bullshit; they're here because rent is so cheap that they can pay it by serving tables part-time and spend the majority of their hours getting better at what they do. its like the LES five years ago - all possibilities without any of the ugliness money brings. none of us has any, so not one of us feels entitled to getting more than he is. that's no longer true about the LES. no one can say it's still the creative utopia it once was.

anyway, K found this place all on her own after weeks of pounding the pavement, working her ass off to find a place. yesterday she followed a lead from a friend and called a number, this morning we went to look at it, and by this evening, we'd been approved for the lease and i was showing my mom the place!

i love when everything falls into place, and the combined pile of SHIT she and i have dealt with is so enormous - i think we paid some dues and the universe gave us a break on this one.
so we move in the first of december and ill start looking for work within walking distance immediately.

we'll be 45 minutes from my parents' house, half an hour from ann arbor (university of michigan), 45 minutes from DTW (detroit airport), and an hour from bowling green (BGSU - the first, and maybe only, university with a full popular culture dept and major). i mention the proximity of those universities bc id love to finish out the last half of my college education at U of M, or BG if U of M wont take me. I want to get this damn degree finished!

more than anything though, im looking forward to the clean slate i have here. yes, in suburbia, the rumors are sharp-edged and barbed, and flying from beautiful home to beautiful home at the speed of light. but among my peers inside the actual city, im just 'alex.' i have blue eyes, weird hair, and i dress strangely. they mostly think im dykey, but thats fine. i need more friends right now, not more complicated sexual and/or romantic relationships. so i like it! K's spirit has infected me, and i cant wait to start putting her plans into action. details to follow....

the following are some pics of the place in its currently unfinished state. 2 bedrooms, one in the center (mine) with a window over the single story building next to us with a full bathroom just a few feet down the hall, and a slightly larger one (K's) with 2 windows looking at the river with a full bathroom inside. we didnt have to discuss who gets the bigger room - she definitely earned it. the law of finders-keepers makes it her apartment anyway. the shared space is the best part though - an enormous living room with an open kitchen w an island (we're going to put three unmatched antique barstools at it) and granite countertops - and the ceilings in this place! beautiful! oh, and we have a laundry room. not down the hall, not in the basement, not down the block, not 2 blocks down and 3 blocks over - INSIDE our apartment.

theres also a huge grassy lawn across the street for nelson to run around in, and kelsey wakes up mad early and really wants to take him out jogging w her - he's going to love it.
anyway, so here are some vague pics that wont be informative at all:

my bathroom