Just Your Average 69-Year-Old College Freshman Studying Abroad.



The prey is always at risk in El Raval.

The stalkers close in at tremendous speeds and from great distances. — feeding their young depends on it.

Yesterday a predator, this one on a bicycle, swooped down with amazing agility upon a guileless visitor. It’s an event that happens here every hour of every day. There’s no way to avoid the risk except to spend a life without leaving the hutch. And what’s that?

The prey, unharmed, discovered the emptiness of life without an iPhone. Every scene that had escaped him when he had his camera now unfolds like magic. Crowds of Metro riders show up like they were choreographed by Hollywood. People on the street gesture with just the right amount of diffidence. The light’s always good and the street noises are muted when you have no way of shooting a video.

Pat Shiplett

Share
Published by
Pat Shiplett

Recent Posts

No Kings

Without the 'No Kings' movement, America wouldn't be celebrating the Fourth of July.The abuses George…

2 weeks ago

Afghan picnic

Out Among HumansIt was as much a sacrament as a picnic for the Afghans once…

3 weeks ago

Boys with Toy Guns

The men of their generation grew up bracing for a fight. They would learn soon…

1 month ago

Lincoln Inaugural Address

At the Lincoln MemorialLincoln’s words were etched in stone so they couldn’t be erased from…

2 months ago

Maarten Tollenaar

People at a coffee shopThe Dutch visitor speaks the King’s English with a brogue that…

2 months ago

sumo

They weren’t dog people. They weren’t cat, gerbil or goldfish people either. They were simply…

3 months ago