Archive for April, 2007
The Man and the Mousetrap
He sat down on the bus seat right in front of me, while I was trying to read about how each of us individually creates meaning from the complex tapestry of the American city. I was sitting there with my nose in the book when all of a sudden this young kid (there was a […]
Dale is dead
Back on St. Patrick’s Day in March 2001, a friend and I were riding the 6 from downtown to uptown and the bus was crowded with a bunch of rowdy, drunk, cheerful fratboy types. We were smooshed in amongst them in the back of the bus, and as the bus began to empty of […]
Thanks Buckethead
A belated thank you to Buckethead…..My girlfriend (eventual wife) and I were living in NE Mpls in the late 70’s and had jobs in downtown Minneapolis. Being car-less, the MTC bus was our only transportation. Unlike other routes, we looked forward to riding the downtown-Nordeast route with our favorite driver, a large jolly […]
Twenny-Five Cent
Back in 2003, I was seeing a girl who lived near Penn & Dowling in N Mpls. She took the 5 back and forth to work in downtown Mpls most days, and rarely had any trouble (until she got her purse snatched at the bus stop-another story).
Bob Koebensky, 1945-2006
Bob was a MTCO driver in the late 60’s. He drove the 18 that traveled up and down Hennepin Ave. That was where he met the love of his life, Jan. They got married a year or so after their first meeting. They had two beautiful boys, who are now grown.
Look deep into my eyes
Just when you make eye contact with a stranger, do you ever wonder what’s going through that other person’s mind at that moment? Well that’s usually how I think things through, but on this bus ride I met someone who verbalized everything that went through his head.
Don’t be so shy
I have been riding the bus since I was 13. I’m 19 now, and the buses were weird then, and are still weird now. But seeing as it’s my main way of transportation, I try to keep my headphones on, and avoid eye contact as much as possible.
4 male ponytails
The other morning, when I sat down at the back bench of the #4 bus, there were only 2 male ponytails on the entire bus, one up front (Ponytail #1), then one sitting near ME, who had thin, unkempt hair, kinda fuzzy and balding on top, then as you go down the length of the […]
Baby, anyone?
I was waiting for bus 68 one night at 6th and Robert, and this drunk man shuffled by the bus stop and said “Do any of you ladies want to have a baby with me?” There was silence, and then a woman waiting for the bus said “Did he just say he wanted to […]
