Cement Scribes
Now that we have a dog and I walk him everyday I’ve come to think that having a dog is good for community building. I know the streets of our neighborhood and surrounding neighborhoods far better and I’ve met many fellow citizens I probably would have never met. It’s a good check against my tendency toward alienation.
I’ve started to pay much more attention to scribbles in the sidwalk. Sometimes the markings people leave behind are ephemeral:
And there’s plenty of “I was here” messaging:
And sometimes it gets a little weird:
My favorite is when kids are clearly involved:
In fact, I think it’d be cool if when new sidewalks are poured city workers encourage neighborhood children to scribble on select sidewalk tiles. So long as nobody uses profanity or scribbles hateful messages, it can only enhance the feeling of community.
