"Downtown"

I know that a good song is coming. Not specifically what song, I'm not peeking ahead. I just know that again there will come a song that I am excited about. This is not that song. It does make me think of Pittsburgh-ese, in which this song would be sung 'Dawn-tawn'.

I'm a newcomer to Pittsburgh, in that I've only been here a dozen years or so, and my husband only a few more than that. I'm a Pennsylvania girl for the most part, though I was actually born in Cleveland. But the only home I remember is the house that my parents still live in, in south-eastern Pennsylvania, south-west of Philly, or as you might say, 'Philadelphia'. I went to Penn State University, in the center of the state, and although I've traveled a little, I've lived outside the state for less than two years all told.

I love it here, in this state. I know that out West there is so much more space, but I'm still amazed by how much green there is here, how many mountains and forests. I love the rolling hills, the fields, the trees. I love my city, the people here, the landscape of the rivers, the size, the neighborhoods, the culture.

Twice in the past two months there have been shootings outside my house. Last month bullets went into my neighbor's home from the street, lodging in her grandchildren's toy box. Then, yesterday, during my piano lesson, while my daughter was playing in the room with her dollhouse, we heard what sounded like a gun shot. Sad to say, this is far from unusual on our street. It could have been a car back firing, or a firecracker, these, too, are not unusual, but it was gunfire this time. I found out a couple hours later that two men at the bar across the street had had an argument, and one shot the other in the legs. Across the street from our home. This is at least the third time since we've been living here that someone has been shot here. The first time it happened, about five years ago, I met my new neighbor for the first time at 2AM, all of us in our bathrobes, while someone bled at the curb.

So now, for the first time, my husband and I are thinking about how we would sell our home, where we would move. It breaks my heart to think about leaving this house, I hope it doesn't come to that. But we cannot wait for something worse to happen. Meanwhile, the bar has been closed, we think, for a time. I am waiting for the world to change.