A Dark And Quiet Room

A couple of Saturdays ago, Crystal and I went downtown in the evening to take pictures. When I say “evening”, I mean about 9:30 or so. When I say “take pictures”, I mean that we were gathering material to use for the Dirty Secrets project that we’re working on together.

It was truly an experience. For the first time, I begin to understand the attraction of people-watching. When you’re looking at life through the viewfinder of a camera, you feel a bit detached. You’re not a part of the environment; rather, you’re observing the environment. I felt like I had an opportunity to walk through my city and touch it, to really feel Peoria.

Did you know that Peoria feels really grimy? Like that slimy feeling of the inside of a sink where you’ve just finished washing dishes.

One particular item that stood out was Big Al’s. For those of you who don’t know, Big Al’s is a fairly famous strip club…I mean, “gentleman’s club” that is on the main street downtown. Indeed, the major hotel downtown apparently attracts a lot of business from out-of-towners because it is next door to Big Al’s. Since they have a lot of neon on their signs, Crystal and I took a lot of pictures around Big Al’s. That let me witness an odd event. As we were passing near Big Al’s, we came upon a group of three people. The two guys were arguing about something. They weren’t at the point of actually brawling, just exchanging sharp words. The female who was with them intervened, saying something like, “Come on, let’s go inside. You can’t see any [breasts] out here.” (For the sake of my family audience, he said dryly, I’m editing the comment a bit.) It worked, too. They stopped fighting and went back inside.

On our wanderings, I realized a sad fact. Big Al’s is the centerpiece of downtown. At least in terms of the nightlife, everything feeds in the direction of Big Al’s. I mentioned this to my friend James, and he agreed. When visitors come to Peoria, they are often looking for Big Al’s. Then he made an astute point. As long as Big Al’s sits downtown, it will betray the efforts of Renaissance Park.

I agree with him. We can try to assemble all the business and cuisine and culture up here in RenPark, but people are more interested in [breasts]. Peoria is defined by [breasts]. And, if we continue to tolerate and support institutions like Big Al’s, we will deserve it.

God, in His infinite mercy, has slammed Peoria with a major snowstorm. Right now, I’m blogging from home. The official word is that work is closed for the morning, and the unofficial word is that we will be closed for the entire day.

God has been good to us.

Plus, I smell sausage cooking. Mmm…sausage.