Blogging from the road.

     I returned to North Carolina to visit family for a few days. I'll be the first to admit that this is not my favorite place in the world. In fact I very rarely have anything positive to say about my hometown. However, the time for negativity in my life is over. I'm trying to make it come to an end at least. Besides, I'm here to see family and family is everything. Or as Don Corleone famously said, "A man who doesn't spend time with his family can never be a real man."

     There is one spot in my hometown that I always make time to visit even though at times I have no reason to. It's one of the oldest parts of the city and has gone through countless stages of reinvention (much like myself). It once was the commercial and economic district of the city and then later it was a haven for criminals, drugs, and prostitution. Now, its an area filled with locally owned small businesses, coffee shops, and independent movie houses. I started frequenting the area in my late teens during the decline of the crime and prostitution era and the very beginning of what the area is now. In fact, my favorite hang out when I was younger was an unassuming coffee shop that later turned out to be a front for a local drug trafficker. The coffee shop was obviously shut down and has since been a endless chain of shops, martini bars, restaurants, and now a techno club.  Here are a few pictures I snapped this morning.

This is a picture of the top floor of the old coffee shop. I never realized how beautiful it looked until this morning.

Take care of yourself and each other...