A Walker in the City

Alfred Kazin called his 1951 memoir A Walker in the City. I sat in on his survey of American lit course a few years later at Amherst. It was for sophomores and I was only a freshman, but a friend said I shouldn't miss the opportunity. I never read the assignments—I just wanted to listen to Kazin talk—but lots of other people didn't, either; one day, when Kazin couldn't take the dumbness anymore, he walked out. I thought that was cool.

My walks these days are mostly through the urban jungle. [click on images to enlarge]
This directissma route up Mt. Sutro, scouted out last Thursday, and attempted yesterday, has some difficult passages.
Unfortunately, I turned right when I should have gone left, so I never reached the tower summit.
But on the descent, I admired UCSF's woodsy, Seventies Shingle Style student housing.
And, on the Stanyan flats, I ran into my Facebook Friend Meredith (she'd come to our party for the Fall issue at Parea), finishing up a six-miler.