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Another interesting tack is to approach your city's monuments, especially the ones with representations of human figures. While these typically get very little interest nowadays, they do have a strong connection to times past when they were empowered by the community with a lot of thought and reverence. I've been working on establishing a relationship with a historical figure from the first half of the twentieth century, regularly leaving something of significance to him at his feet whenever I happen to be passing through the area on other business. He's already opened one door for me, so I'm optimistic about the future of this one.
As for buses, I'd stay away from libations, at least while on board. They're sensitive to people making a mess of them, and can react quite violently in response. The other week I watched a guy sabre the bottle of Pina Colada he was trying to open on sharp edge of the emergency window release handle. The genius' hand was cut quite badly. Something in the street though could work, I haven't tried any physical contributions in my work with buses. Curbs are powerful as they are a liminal, threshold space, so are bus knuckles -- the sunken ruts in the pavement caused by bus-after-bus taking exactly the same line as it makes a stop -- because they're a physical manifestation of the vehicle's passage.
Other things... creeks are powerful creatures that we spend far too much time ignoring. Glacially wise, they don't react well to sudden requests. Trees too, but you have to spend time working out what they are, what they've been through and how to approach them. Short-lived street trees are best viewed as a network, sort of like the barking network (ahaha) in 101 Dalmations. They pass things on along the wind, ground water often being inaccessible to them. Older trees, solitary and grandiose, are much more complicated. And trees growing in forest fragments, in parkland or ravines, are best to simply provide some small respect to and then move on, for we alienated them long ago and their suspicion of your motives lies concentrated in that valley or fenced in corner.
If you want a place to start with the city as a whole, get up as high and unsheltered as you can, on a rooftop or construction crane or escarpment, whatever you're comfortable with. Where the city can see you all at once and get to know you outside of the everyday. |
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