I just couldn't take it anymore. All the noise of trains, planes, streetcars, people yelling in the streets, everything. My apartment borders on the main train tracks that cut through the south end of the city. I used to be okay with it, content with the fact that this was just another noise alive in the soundscape of the city.

But then the jets moved in. A bit further east is the Island Airport. Once they finally got permission to land jets, this combination crossed the line for me. I'd be on my back in bed staring up at the ceiling at all hours of the night, the train schedule imprinted on my ears. It all just became too much.

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A few weeks ago, I was riding the streetcar along Broadview Avenue. During rush hour I like to stand. This isn’t because I am noble and chivalrous, I just want to no be judged for taking the seat from someone more deserving. Standing is definitely more uncomfortable, especially if you are in the small aisle between seats. You’re always in the way. People need to get past you and around you, and there’s nowhere for you to go. You’re just in the way.

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One of the best things about putting together a large-scale project such as our Stories We Don't Tell book is when it's finished. I don't mean this as a negative thing. I'm not pooh-poohing the experience in any way. I just mean that when you've put just about every ounce of whatever you got into something, and you still needed to find the strength to go just a bit further, when it's all done, a part of you does rejoice.

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I was restless. Squirly. Like I was running out of time. Worried that each wasted day brought me that much closer to the grave. Which, I guess, was literally the truth. After all, what did this all amount to? What have I actually accomplished in my life?

Spent most of my spare time hanging out in the underbelly. The other side of the city. The section where the invisible people lived. I had spent too much time between and behind buildings, where the darkness collects and the threat always looms of truly and finally losing myself, giving up, giving in to my primitive side. The side that lives in all of us.

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