Several months back, some loon started posting hate-flyers on the stretch of Irving Street from 9th Ave to 19th Ave. At the time, I blogged about it, saying it was the work of a "hate group," but in hindsight I guess it was just one loon.
I mostly-tore down hate-flyers when I saw them; but I failed to tear them all the way down. The loon used strong tape. It was easy to tear down most of each, but tough to tear down the part right under the tape.
Other neighborly folks mostly-tore down hate-flyers too. Often I was too late to tear them down: some neighbor had already gotten to them. But the Irving Street light poles were now "decorated" with ratty tape and paper. Walking past these remnants reminded me that a hateful loon was my neighbor.
This went on for months.
Occasionally, some neighborly person did a thorough job tearing down hate-flyers and tape-remnants. That was nice.
But mostly I walked past remnants. I'd think I should bring scissors with me on this walk, then I could cut down the tape. But this was my route to the supermarket. Heading out of my apartment, I wasn't thinking about flyers and scissors; I was thinking about whether I should buy a potato. When I got to the supermarket, I forgot about flyers and scissors, but remembered what groceries I needed. When I got home, I again forgot about flyers and scissors, but remembered to put away my groceries.
New Year's Day came along, as it does. I thought about resolutions. I remembered that I always forgot to bring scissors with me when grocery shopping. I fashioned a little hook and attached it to a shelf by my apartment door; and I hung a pair of scissors from the hook. On my way out the door, I'd see the scissors and remember to slip them into a pocket.
On my grocery supermarket trips, if I saw a hate-flyer, I cut it all the way down. More likely: if I saw tape-remnants clinging to a pole, I cut those all the way down.
Sometimes, I'd go for groceries and never need the scissors: all the poles were free of hate-flyers. Maybe because of that thorough-tearer-downer neighbor who'd inspired me? Maybe because of me? Maybe because of other thorough-tearer-downer neighbors? Together, we kept up with the loon.
I guess we wore the loon down.
I haven't seen a hate-flyer nor tape-remnant along that street since mid-March. I think the loon gave up on posting them.
If I stopped writing there, it would be a tidy, satisfying story: how a neighborhood came together to overcome etc etc. Alas, the loon has shifted to putting up stickers on the poles at Irving at 19th Avenue. (Yes, I could detour from my grocery route to 19th Avenue to pull down stickers… But if I get there and someone else has already pulled down the stickers, I feel silly for shlepping all that way.) So it's a not-so-tidy, somewhat-satisfying story.
