To Trash or Not to Trash

Note to self: do not stay up until well after 1 when you've signed up to participate in Neighborhood Cleanup Day, which starts at 8 freakin' a.m.

But I made that choice, so I reported for duty, ready and willing, to assist in cleaning and beautifying the Ward.

I am greeted with biscuits and fruit and neighbors, including one who once occupied my apartment before the building was renovated.

They hand me an industrial-sized trash bag and a picker-upper tool.

Scanning the clipboard for available assignments, I am told that the goal is to assign workers clean-up tasks for areas around where they live.

Everything near me is taken so they choose a random street.

And here's the irony: it's the one and only street in Jackson Ward I don't want to go near.

It's the one where I lived for several happy years before being dumped.

It's the one where my ex still resides.

It's the one full of memories, both great and devastating.

It's the last place I want to clean up trash.

But what could I say to these nice people making the assignment?

"Oh, no, I really couldn't. You see, the man who broke my heart lives on that street."

I don't think that's done.

So I take my bag and tool and head up to Broad Street to start the death march down the street as far as Brook Road.

Candid admission: I couldn't do his side of the street on his block.

I cleaned up the other side, but just couldn't make the leap to pick up trash in front of that house.

I hope the J-Ward trash gods will understand.

I used the rest of the morning to clean alleys and behind trash cans on nearby blocks.

Several people commented that there was far less debris this clean-up than in the past, so maybe we're making progress in raising people's awareness of not trashing the neighborhood.

And while I may have slacked a bit on my assignment, I did fill my industrial-sized bag nearly to capacity, so I like to think I did my part to the best of my ability.

J-Ward looks especially glorious today. And I helped.