The City Surprises Me-- Adventures Of A Small Town Girl Out On The Town

On the metro today, on my way to dinner, a young woman started writing on one of the ads. I found this rather offensive, so I asked her why she felt compelled to write there. She responded that she felt the ad was promoting a distorted view of women's bodies because the artistic depiction of the woman in it was so thin. I told her that while I concurred with her sentiments, having read The Beauty Myth by Naomi Wolf and being a feminist, I wouldn't write on the metro because it was disrespectful and not a very effective way of reaching people. Much to my shock, a young man several seats over spoke up and seconded my sentiment. He said that he felt if you wanted to make a difference volunteer work was the way to go and that as an African American he was particularly concerned about HIV in the African-American community so he did volunteer work with a non-profit working on HIV education. I also suggested to the young woman that blogging about her feelings about the ad on the metro, and perhaps even posting a picture of the ad on the blog would be a way to potentially reach a lot of people if she could write well. The young man also agreed with this, saying she lived at a unique time where there was the means to reach many people just with your computer. I was really thrilled that he supported me, as I half expected to get in trouble for confronting the young women on the train, it's just I never have a good read on public situations and far too often open my mouth when I shouldn't.

Then, walking home from the metro quite late, the streets were deserted and I was feeling rather nervous. A car pulled over next to me and I felt afraid. I was definitely feeling vulnerable. The person in the car rolled down the window and it was a woman with her sister and a baby. She told me that it wasn't too bright an idea for me to be walking around alone at that hour (I had kind of figured that out a little too late) and that she would give me a ride to where I was going. I debated it briefly, then went with my gut instinct and got in. She drove me to my doorstep, for which I was very grateful.

I didn't expect the small kindness of the man speaking up for me on the train or the woman stopping to give me a ride. Either of those situations had the potential to turn out quite unpleasantly, but they didn't. This city surprises me, and it is quite a pleasant surprise to expect the worst and get the best. For those of you shaking your head at my adventures, I promise I won't keep pushing my luck. Next time someone is scrawling on the metro or putting up graffiti I'll bite my tongue. And I'll figure out how to get from the metro home in a safe way, possibly park the car at the metro or maybe get a bike... I thought I was fine but the fact that woman pulled over indicates to me that I should trust the feeling of uneasiness I had because she was obviously concerned for me.