Tucson, oh Tucson
I like Tucson. It has a small town attitude despite its size, and the people here are consistently among the most friendly I’ve ever met in Arizona. I’m pretty sure you have to be at least half hippie to live here year-round.
My friend said that I don’t actually like Tucson–that I actually like the UofA campus. He said that if I would leave the downtown area I wouldn’t like Tucson so much. I’m content with the downtown area though. It’s nice. It has what I need.
Most of the buildings in Tucson are old and a little dilapidated. They stand in stark contrast with the bright, new cookie cutter strip malls of Phoenix. Tucson stands like a defiant record of the past. A past where houses were original, where the tree in every single front yard has a history to tell.
Tucson is like a favorite pair of old shoes: the soles are a bit too thin, the laces are fraying, the style is out-dated. But, even though you spend the money to buy new shoes, you go back to your old pair because they’re comfortable, familiar, and the dirt on the bottom holds memories of where you’ve been.
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The razor wire on top of the fence does give it that old shoe kind of appeal. Do you actually feel safe there?
Looks kind of like a concentration camp.
Yeah I feel safe here. I mean, you have to be wise and aware of your surroundings, but it’s not like I’m afraid to step outside of my door at night.
Joel, I like how you’re such an optimist.
Oh I forgot: Tucson is way safer than Casa Grande. I never told you guys about the boy who was shot and killed a couple blocks away from my house a couple summers ago. Or the time this summer that 5 minutes after I drove home from work past some apartments there was a drive by shooting and 2 people were injured. Or how about the time that I had to break up a knife fight at the pool that I worked at?
Tucson, at least the part where I live, is safe in comparison.