My Back Pages - Progress

Back in 1973, I used to live in Minneapolis on North Fifth Street, just across the street from this house. Upstairs, a married couple would host card parties every Saturday night, while below them a pair of Mormon missionaries resided. It was a vibrant scene that now remains only in memories, as the house was eventually torn down to make way for a parking lot:

Over the years, the neighborhood had already undergone significant changes, transitioning from a primarily residential area to a mixed-use industrial zone with an abundance of parking lots. This transformation took place gradually, with houses being demolished one or two at a time over a span of thirty years. Interestingly, my own house was the last to be taken down, managing to stand for an additional eighteen years. Living under the constant threat of condemnation caused me to lose my sense of place in the world, which in retrospect, may have actually prepared me for some of the challenges of modern life.

This experience profoundly influenced my perspective on permanence and the ever-changing nature of our surroundings.

“But now… when that world is no more… the spirits rise up from the well of oblivion. People and pictures from a vanished world are reincarnated and assume a significance which was hidden at the time.” ~ Halldór Laxness, The Fish Can Sing