ANR - Acacia Night Riders for the Uninitiated

"Midnight Ride"
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Sultana Ave

"Midnight rush"
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Sultana Ave overlooking I-10

So I was reading John Irving's "Until I find you" at 12 a.m. when I get a text from Matthew asking me if I was interested in another bike ride.
"Absolutely I am", I replied
And so we left.
I was on my 1970 Schwinn Varsity Sport,
and together we rode North on Sultana Blvd.
The streets were dark, the cars were sparse, and the houses were old but very well maintained.
This is historic Ontario and Pleasantville is how I would describe it.
The manicured lawns, 1980s Buicks that looked like they were just driven off the lot,
American flags hanging off every porch and drive way.
And then we smelled marijuana.

"Life is a Beautiful Struggle"
Friday, September 11, 2009
Home

I've known this guy since we were in Kindergarten.
He was my first friend.
He was my first best friend.
He had the meanest Wolverine drawing from k-6th grade.
It was the kind of Wolverine drawing that we traded our prized chicken patties for.

I just had my camera on my lap and I snapped this picture ranodmly while we were talking about some of our best and worst childhood memories -
Like the time so and so ripped his pants,
or fell off a tree, or set off the fire cracker, etc.
And only when I had uploaded onto my computer later that night,
did I remember what we had talked about and I thought,
"how true how true, it has been a beautiful struggle"