He’s drunk beside me but still coherent enough to direct
me back to the hotel. You live in a place for 17 years but never really learn
the area as well as you could. I’m lost to the point of relying on a drunk.
It’s a big city. Not my fault.
 |
| 1 |
 |
| 2 |
We’re staying near the airport which is about a half hour
away from MacDill Air force Base with traffic.
We drive from a shitty
neighborhood to one of the nicest parts of Tampa to get there. It looks so
pretty at night. Past the malls and shopping districts. The big fancy
restaurants I could never afford to eat at. It’s midnight, but with all the
lights it’d be hard to tell.
He’s singing along to the radio. One of our favorite
songs.
If he wasn’t so drunk I’d say it’s romantic.
 |
| 3 |
Tampa’s a weird place. There’s Ybor City where hobos roam
and drugs and parties are never far away.
 |
| 4 |
Then there’s the Westshore area near
the airport, where we are now. Everything big and bright and loud.
South Tampa,
with the McDonalds and Dollar Store within walking distance from MacDill, where
it almost looks like you can get mugged but probably no one ever does. Then New
Tampa, the closest thing to a college town in the city, except even the Starbucks
closes at night. That’s not something I’m used to. I’ve been gone for three
years, but know the city better now than I did before I left. It feels like
home but also not.
We sit at a red light for what feels like eternity. Almost
like it’s begging me to stay out later. This part of Tampa doesn’t sleep and maybe
neither should I.
1: http://www.hotels.com/ho269506/towneplace-suites-by-marriott-tampa-westshore-airport-tampa-united-states/, Sept. 21, 2013.
2: 2009, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MacDill_Air_Force_Base, Sept. 21, 2013.
3: http://www.gaybor.com/, Sept. 21, 2013.
4: http://www.tampabayisnewnow.com/tampa-bay-times-forum/walkable-now.php, Sept. 21, 2013.
Background: 2012, http://www.amstafftalk.com/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=8927, Sept. 21, 2013.
The basic idea behind this post is that I’m describing my hometown, but seen through almost an outsider’s perspective because it’s no longer my home; hence the title “Rediscovering Roots.” I actually do not have any photos of Tampa, so I pulled them off the internet. Because I’m mainly describing a scene of the lights at night, I chose that image for the background. I also included pictures of other places I described, such as Ybor and MacDill, so if the reader is unfamiliar with the area, they can have a better idea of what I am describing. I chose the font to be more of a handwriting style because this is a personal narrative about rediscovering one’s hometown, so the handwriting gives it a more personal feel. I also included the song “Swing Life Away” because I feel like it illustrates the post pretty well, and in the video, he seems to be exploring his town and examining his life, which is what is happening in the narrative.
ReplyDeleteFirst off, I like what you're doing here, and it's something I can connect with. The idea of a home that's unfamiliar, to the point that you have to ask for directions from your drunk friend is a good one. The music gives a strong "nostalgia" vibe that strengthens this idea. And like you said, the handwriting style font personalizes things. Rather than make the text a few paragraphs of narrative all close together, you broke things up and interspersed it with pictures, and it helps create a distance between the reader and the narrative and place. “Almost like it’s begging me to stay out later. This part of Tampa doesn’t sleep and maybe neither should I.” I love this closing lining and the possibilities that it opens up. We see neither the beginning or even really the end of this narrative, and here you acknowledge a bit.
ReplyDeleteNow, for things that could be improved. More than likely you simply didn’t have a lot of personal pictures that illustrated Tampa as you wanted it to be seen, but still, I feel this is one of the weakest aspects of your post. While your text really gives me a sense of driving at night in the city, your pictures are so impersonal it takes me out of things. This could be intentional, but I think pictures that you’ve taken or that display a more personal look into Tampa at night would help strengthen the immersiveness of the piece. As I said before, I like you broke things up which helps give a sense of unfamiliarity, but I found myself wishing you’d fleshed out each “blurb” so that each of them stands better on its own. My last note is that your drunk friend sort of disappears in the second of half of things while you’re introspecting. While I’ve got no problem with putting him aside for the moment, I would have like to see him come back at the end, and in general participate more in the action.