Okay, I’m now officially an American resident, domiciled along the Genesee in Rochester. A long way from Newfoundland. So I hope you’ll forgive my absence. I’m mostly settled in, and will probably produce some posts in the next couple of weeks. Hopefully I’ll still have the time after classes start. I am pleasantly surprised by most aspects of the city, save the pinpricks – like being stuck phoneless and 7 kilometres (round-trip) away from the closest retail fresh vegetable.
Regardless, I was just out for an admittedly late bike ride through the local streets. Downtown was abandoned, but that’s not unusual – Ottawa was even moreso. You can jaywalk downtown there for miles at the right times and streets, but I digress…
I probably covered about thirty blocks of local neighbourhood. Twelve minutes at maybe 25 kph? Who knows. And I didn’t see one caucasian the whole time. The neighbourhood must be at least 99% black. It’s remarkable. Of course, there are lots of economic reasons ethnicities choose to self-separate, but we’re across the river from a very respectable private university – and if you cross that river and the campus grounds, the houses are filled with white folks.
Remarkable, but chilling.