Bleeding Heart Liberal

If it weren't for my favorite read right now, "Riding with Strangers" by Elijah Wald, odds are I wouldn't have picked up 20-something year old Kat hitchhiking alongside I-87 South holding up a sign bound for NYC. I was 25 miles into my trip when I stopped for gas and spotted her at the rest stop. She dressed just enough grudge/goth/alternative for me to pull over and offer her a ride. Tatoos covered her chest and long loose-fitting black garments and bags with random worn holes here and there covered the rest of her. She had a sweet kind voice and a small friendly grin and she was exactly what I hoped for - an active protester, someone who loathes TV and Bush but loves folk and films. Just like my street double but she dresses the part better.

I picked her brain and learned a whole mess about a private alternative school she teaches at. She in return wanted to know more about my travels around the world. Her hitchhiking, so far, has been confined to the United States. Down the Palisades, over the GW, continueing south on the Henry Hudson blvd, time sure flys when two people have so much to talk about. Mutti held her tongue most of the way, I think a little shaken with my trustworthiness. Mutti's a tough 'ol bird- while I tend to romanticize and idealize, she's good at pulling a 'Moonstruck' on me and slapping me across the cheek. That followed by a cold stone "Get over it Already" or "Pull Yourself Together!". Such was my life growing up with a German.

The Carnegie performance was impacting and yet I was hoping for more Mozart. Still, the playbill was full of surprises and I bumped into old friends from my days in Europe with ESYO.

After the show I grabbed a ham and cheese on hardroll at a nearby Deli because I was super hungry. I jumped back in my car and started to devour. Then I looked up to my left and saw a poor homeless wretch digging in piles of trash for food. Mutti knew what what was coming next and before she could stop me - there went my Ham and Cheese dinner.

Once a bleeding heart liberal, always a bleeding heart liberal.