Downtown Luxury Slum

Hello!

In the last issue of Fun Fluff, I shared some pictures of downtown, all boarded up. At that point, some people had started to turn the plywood into canvases for art but now downtown is so colourful with all the temporary murals. Even though most places are still boarded up and we’re still in the midst of a pandemic, downtown actually feels kinda full of life. Like there was even a busker out the other day. I’m hoping some of the art and colour gets to stay. Black Lives Matter marches continued through last weekend but seem to have tapered off this week, presumably due to the rain. That said, I expect there to be more this weekend, especially with Donald Trump promoting the importance of Juneteenth.

I’m tired of having a leaky roof but don’t want to pay to replace it because what a boring way to spend way too much money. Also, my phone fell out of my pocket and into loose insulation fluff when I was in the attic the other day. Finding it was a fun adventure.

I’m trying to convince Andrew we should move to Belize. Not a 2 million dollar island, but a modest oceanfront condo. Is that asking too much?

To be fair, feeling safe at home (except for the two days the riots were happening here) is probably something I should be a little more thankful for.

Sorry, more happy things!

I want to try making these sometime soon. I think they will come in handy.

If you’ve got some time to kill, this is a documentary about Shaw University, the HBCU that is right beside the Downtown Luxury Slum. I found it pretty interesting but that’s partly because it’s my neighbourhood.

Anyway, here are some more recent pictures of downtown Raleigh.

Wait! I also wanted to recommend a podcast because when I was listening to the most recent episode, one of the hosts mentioned that they were currently on the top of the charts and it made her feel like the gym in January, but for racism. And that made me lol. So listen to Code Switch and also Colour Code (the Canadian equivalent that is no longer in production but the old episodes still apply, sadly). Both should be available wherever you listen to podcasts, and if you don’t listen to podcasts, I recommend trying with the Pocket Casts app.

K bye,

Diana