<<As an eleven-year resident of South Bend, I've gotta
ask how on earth
you found this grocery store. There are some really scary
neighborhoods
in this city, no doubt about that, but I'm still trying to
figure how
someone passing through made it into one of those
neighborhoods. (And
calling the local hoods Werner Herzog or Roman Polanski types
is giving
them too much credit, IMHO--that gives them a certain glamor
that just
ain't so. Ask me off-list about some of the idiots that
turned up when
I was working in the public defender's office. . .
.)>>
My comment was about my memory of being scared; I really
doubt that
South Bend is noticeably scarier than other cities I've
visited. It was
late summer, and after some 10 hours on the road, we decided
to stop in
South Bend, the closest city. We tried several motels, and
they were all
booked because of a big religious convention. Finally,
someone gave us
directions to this motel that did have a room. We didn't know
the town,
and we ended up at what turned out to be a bad neighborhood.
My wife
wanted to get some real food, and that's how we ended up at
this grocery
store. I couldn't tell you where it was. While my wife and I
are quite
used to dangerous urban areas, this was something like a
foreign country
to us. The types weren't glamorous - but there was a lot of
visible
hostility, a dull anger in their eyes. You probably know what
I'm
talking about.
Regards,
MT
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