It's Sunday morning. I read this quote and couldn't help but wonder how true it is. John Steinbeck an American author, could tell the difference between looking and seeing. Could I? Years ago, I would image myself walking around the streets of flourishing and/or disadvantaged inner city communities seeking to find the beauty in cracked pavements, row homes, and grandmother's who have lived in their homes for decades.
I sought to create world's, write their stories, and live in a realm where words enhanced the beauty of everyday experiences. I desired so greatly to be a voice to voiceless, a storyteller of urban living; sharing experiences unnoticed by mainstream lenses. Storytelling is a beautiful thing.
Yet, today I find myself driving through the same streets that I have walked my entire life, phone in hand, a planner and no notebook. I have been looking at the changes in my city, to the resident's and to people around me and yet I don't think I have seen them. I haven't put a voice to the visual pictures that are often so fleeting, yet are resting as snapshots in my dreams.
Today, I'll change that. I'll place my notebook in my oversized purse and attempt to capture people and places that I have been staring at and not seeing. I'll capture conversations that I have been listening too, yet haven't heard. Then maybe, just maybe I will be able to experience what I have been missing.