Ruminations of Ithaca, August 2022

Sometimes you forget how Ithaca feels until you haven’t been here in a while. You forget how it feels to be here - like the fact that in the summertime  everything smells really good. People have so many flowers -  their whole front yard and the grass between the curb and the sidewalk are full flower gardens -  wildflowers, unbelievable smelling neighborhoods. 

You forget how many trees there really are here. And those trees have changed so much since the last time you were here. Every house you walk by reminds you of someone you used to know who lived in it. When I used to live here it felt like some people lived in the same rental the whole time I knew them, but in retrospect it may be because I didn’t really know them very long. Whereas other people, like me, moved all the time. Sometimes 2 or 3 times a year. 

You never knew where I was unless you knew someone who knew me. Here are just a few of the houses I lived in.

  

Some of these houses look like they haven’t changed since the last time I was here, and some look like they haven’t changed since I lived here 22 years ago.  

Houses that used to be glorious are run down and haven’t been painted in a while, or have random boards holding up the columns on the porches. Every place seems a little run down compared to what it looked like 22 years ago, except for the apartment building at 501 Tioga. It’s newly painted and fresh looking, and it used to be tenement housing in the 90s. Most properties are rentals, and you can tell which ones are rented and which are owner-occupied by how run-down they are.

Things have changed but things have not changed and I’m liking that. Actually, it’s nice to see things that remind me of old times and in between them things that I have no recollection of whatsoever. Like the two tiny houses on Auburn Street that were built in the side yards of other houses.   

The other thing you forget about Ithaca when you’re not here for a while is that almost everybody has a dog. They take their dogs everywhere and everybody will talk to you about their dog, whether they know you or not. Like one dog was sniffing me and I was holding my hands behind my back, and the owner said I could just pet him if I wanted. I said oh I know that’s probably true but no one can pet my dog, so I don’t test other people‘s dogs by petting them. She laughed, I said goodbye and walked away. She turned around and shouted “he approved of you, you know! The dog approved of you!” I thought that was really sweet, although how can you tell? The dog just sniffed me, that was it! 

Or another guy in the intersection had a golden retriever, and the dog’s face was just so open and friendly and happy, so I said “your dog has a great face”, and he said “oh thank you!” like it was the best complement you could pay him. But the dog DID have a great face. That’s the kind of thing you can say to complete strangers in Ithaca.  I probably wouldn’t do that walking around Syracuse. Maybe in the University neighborhood or on my own street, but that’s about it. In Ithaca everywhere is the University neighborhood, I guess that’s a difference.  

When I saw Tom Holton today at the farmers market, he recognized me right away, even with my mask on. He just saw my eyes and he knew it was me, whereas I knew it was him because he was in the same stall he and his wife have been running at the farmers market since they got married, like, 29 years ago. But I haven’t seen anyone else yet that I recognize. I see people that could be people I might know, but that pretty much counts everybody. In Ithaca looks like someone you might know, but you also know that most people rotate out of here after a few years, so it could be that nobody here is anybody I know! it’s an odd cultural thing that happens here, this rotating citizenry with the University cycles.

The other thing that always changes here is that businesses keep moving in Ithaca, so things that you assume will be here are not here. For example, there was a Gimme Coffee on State Street last time I was here, next to a lesbian bar, but no such thing exists now. Or the new business that took over the old women’s bookstore building. Or the fact that a number of the residential houses on Green Street appear to be businesses now, and vice versa. So the house I used to live in on Green Street is unrecognizable to me – could be it’s been torn down, or  maybe they painted it, or maybe it’s so rundown I don’t recognize it.

They are also really dedicated to renewable energy in Ithaca, like this one building that has 30 solar panels on it just because it can.