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The City of Cambridge phoned the other day. It was just a recording, and it wasn't good news, but it was nice to know they were thinking of me.
I've never lived in Cambridge. It feels like home, though. I can remember the moment I came up the stairs early on a Sunday morning in January*, and looked around Harvard Square almost silent in the snow. I remember the transition from thinking I wanted to live anyplace in the world but Troy, to thinking I'd suddenly found the place I belonged. I mean, I knew it was ridiculous, but that's what it felt like. (I remember the moment but not the year. Some Arisia weekend in the late 1990s.) I left upstate New York in 1998, and what with one thing and another I haven't lived more than 2.5 miles from Cambridge since then.
I don't sign up for Cambridge mailing lists. I don't have a Cambridge address. I don't join Cambridge phone trees. I don't expect them to call me. I wouldn't be surprised if the state of Massachusetts called to tell me something about a public health emergency. The town of Arlington, where I live now? They don't, because I haven't signed up and asked them to, but I wouldn't be surprised if they did. I wouldn't even be shocked to hear from a city where I used to live.
Cambridge called. They're concerned about my health. (They love me!) They are such a deeply flawed city but somehow I still love them. How did they know to call?
I've never lived in Cambridge. It feels like home, though. I can remember the moment I came up the stairs early on a Sunday morning in January*, and looked around Harvard Square almost silent in the snow. I remember the transition from thinking I wanted to live anyplace in the world but Troy, to thinking I'd suddenly found the place I belonged. I mean, I knew it was ridiculous, but that's what it felt like. (I remember the moment but not the year. Some Arisia weekend in the late 1990s.) I left upstate New York in 1998, and what with one thing and another I haven't lived more than 2.5 miles from Cambridge since then.
I don't sign up for Cambridge mailing lists. I don't have a Cambridge address. I don't join Cambridge phone trees. I don't expect them to call me. I wouldn't be surprised if the state of Massachusetts called to tell me something about a public health emergency. The town of Arlington, where I live now? They don't, because I haven't signed up and asked them to, but I wouldn't be surprised if they did. I wouldn't even be shocked to hear from a city where I used to live.
Cambridge called. They're concerned about my health. (They love me!) They are such a deeply flawed city but somehow I still love them. How did they know to call?
