Cell phone convo, bench in Jackson station of the Blue Line:
"Sheila? Yeah...I'm on my way to Momma's. I got to tell her something bad. Yeah, something bad happened. I THINK I GOT HERPES! HER-PES. It had to be Corey. [long pause] I don't know for sure...but girl, it LOOKS like herpes."
College students:
Boy: ...While we were there, we went to the Reagan Presidential Library.
Girl: Really?
Boy: Yeah! They have a big piece of the Berlin Wall with graffiti and stuff.
Girl: Cool!
Boy: We watched this clip of him saying "Tear down this wall," and there was a thing for little kids where they could build a wall out of blocks and knock it down. It was really cute.
Girl: Reagan was cool.
[Talk shifts to games]
Girl: I like playing dude games!
Boy: Ha ha...then you've played Frank's Adventure?
Girl: No...I don't think so.
Boy: Oh you'd love it! This guy has to get naked pics of girls but they're all cokeheads, so he has to score some coke first. It's really funny!
Editor's note: I found this game online, but could never figure out how to make money to buy the coke.
"
The following was overheard in one trip on the 15 East Colfax Avenue bus in Denver.
Elderly woman (picking up her backpack): "Would you like to sit?"
Young guy: "Oh, yeah...thanks."
EW: "I live in a shelter."
YG: "Umm..hmmm"
EW: "Actually, I live in TWO shelters. They both wake me up at 7:00 in the morning, and then I go to the 'Y' and swim. You know why?"
YG: (shakes his head)
EW: "They are trying to put their sper-mat-a-ZO-a in me--while I'm SLEEPING! You have to exercise to EXPELLLL them!"
YG: (stares blankly into space)
She continued on like this for blocks.
Teenage boy, while stepping out the back door: "I hate faggots!" Someone replying, from the back of the bus: "@#!%*!"
A couple was sitting across the aisle and slightly behind me.
Man: "What's the Mexican national anthem?"
Woman: "I don't know, what is the Mexican national anthem?"
Man (singing): "Jose can you see..."
Man: "What do you call a Mexican guy who looks white?"
Woman: "Shhh! You're too loud."
Man: "El Paso." (laughs uproariously)
The get up to leave the bus and I get a good look at them. They both appear to be Hispanic.
I'm staying down the street from the beautiful old Union Station building. Photo by Phil Romans. Copyright Commons, some rights reserved.
Overheard 1
Two women with babies in strollers, on a packed Chicago Avenue bus:
Mom #1 (nodding at mom #2's baby): So, how do you give him methadone?
Mom #2: Oh, it's easy. They give it to you in a little bottle, just like cough syrup.
Overheard 2
Young man, sitting in a cafe: "In high school, for some reason, we became really obsessed with Robert Goulet."
Man on the train, talking on his cell:
"So, the woman who was interviewing me asked me what my favorite movie was. I wasn't thinking and said 'Requiem For A Dream.' She said, 'Oh, what's that about?' I said 'heroin addiction.' And then I pretty much knew I wasn't going to get the job."
One girl to another, sitting at a table outside the student activities office: "...I know, he's really worried about this cake we're having on Friday 'cause it says 'Celebrate Safe Sex.'"
Woman (after kissing man goodbye at the entrance to the Logan Square Blue Line station): "Have a good day, baby! See ya tonight, and I'll try to bring a blunt!"
Man: "Aaaright!"
I board the train, and sit next to a young man with a notebook. He divides the page into two columns, and pauses, looking thoughtful. He writes in each column. I try to tilt my head enough to catch the entries in my peripheral vision. One column is labeled Delights, the other is Distastes. I can't read the items under Distastes, but the two entries under Delights are "Milk" and "Lavender." To my disappointment, he gets off at Division.
This was a few years ago, near Halloween. I was sitting on my porch reading as a group of really tough-looking gangster girls wearing MLD* colors walked by.
"Oh RIGHT...like she can AFFORD that many pumpkins!"
*Maniac Latin Disciples
Overheard on Saturday night, while walking south on Lincoln:
"I work with straight people all week, I hang out with straight people all weekend. No wonder I don't have a boyfriend!"
