SOLSC, March 14, 2017

Yesterday I lucked upon reading this post by fellow blogger at wakeupandwrite:

blog https://wakeupandwrite.wordpress.com/2017/03/13/31317/

There is a 13th Street in our city.  I quickly googled it to see if it was anything special.  And come to find out that it only runs through a small section of downtown and then another small part of ‘the hill’.  At first I didn’t notice anything unique or different about our 13th street but then I zoomed in a little closer.  I don’t know what significance was intended, perhaps only irony.

The downtown section starts at the Dushanbe Teahouse, a remarkably beautiful building shipped here piece by piece from our sister city.  It was built entirely by hand in Dushanbe.  “It was disassembled, crated up, and sent halfway around the world to be rebuilt in Boulder as a symbol of friendship and cultural exploration.”  It is an iconic part of our city and treasured by our citizens.

The other end of 13th ends at the Rec Center which is bordered by several large apartments building that are subsidized housing.  Most of its residents are from Mexico.  The Rec Center is a hub for the community with the swimming pool with the curly slide and a gymnastics program that literally every child in Boulder takes part in at some point before they are 6.  The apartment complex houses mostly immigrants who live here with part of their family, work construction jobs or clean houses, and send what money they can back to families back in Mexico.

What a true cross section and perplexing juxtaposition, from a symbol of friendship and cultural exploration to housing for immigrants who are currently being feeling that they are not welcome here.  What kind of friendship or cultural exploration is that?