This post marks the end of the first unofficial jackvalentine.net hiatus and the beginning of my time in San Francisco. Here’s a rough breakdown of the past six weeks:

57% idle time in Chicago with excitement for the move at a stalemate with the tedium of last days; no energy to write
28% traveling through the midwest […]

Minneapolis. Dinkytown. Espresso Royale Cafe.
On the road–finally.
Starting to think all people are just manifestations of various archetypes; I swear I’ve met this one at least twice, and a couple first-time repeaters just walked by.
Meetings with old friends are as familiar and ephemeral as recurring dreams.
Am I as tough as I think I am? What’s […]

Strange is the nostalgia I feel tonight. I’ve just arrived at the apartment after hours on the highway and crammed in public transportation.
The air is wet. I don’t hear any sirens, any inebriated yelling, any car horns; the city is resting tonight, but resting like a coiled spring. It feels just like it did four […]

Last Friday I hitchhiked from Madison to Minneapolis. I have too many stories, too many reflections to offer all at once. For now, here is a sketch of the first person to pick me up.

Mark is tough. He knows this. He grew up white in the Boston projects where he “learned a healthy respect for […]

Traveling broke takes more work. Today I dropped cash on new bearings for the hubs on my bike, but only spent $1.06 on food. Before that, I tried to case all the places that sell bread, but almost everyone was roundabout in telling me they didn’t trash expired stuff. I don’t know if they knew […]

This city has a different pulse than Chicago. It’s not working as hard. When I pass by, I don’t catch the reek of sweat, don’t see the pit stains, don’t hear the grunts. Madison is daydreaming. Its heartbeat is slow, and its breaths are deep. It floats along.
There was a time when I would do […]

On my way to Minneapolis. For a wedding, and conveniently timed to give me space to reflect.
The past several days have been filled with disorienting and powerful interactions that had just begun hinting at normalcy, and now I will jet from the familiar-unfamiliar to land in a soup of dichotomies: concrete and flesh, tears and […]