Last night, I went to a friend’s house in Casa Linda, staying socially distant in her backyard, drinking beer, sitting under enormous pecan trees, watching fireflies do their evening dance. I was also watching Twitter. Just a few miles away, protest fires were lighting up downtown Dallas. It hurt me to see those images. It felt disorienting to see them as I enjoyed my peaceful night. If you don’t think we live in two Americas, you aren’t paying attention.
This morning, I cycled the roughly 10 miles from my East Dallas neighborhood to downtown, through Deep Ellum. Seeing plywood covering storefront windows, as if a hurricane were bearing down on Dallas, made my heart heavy. And yet, the weather was beautiful. People were milling about, taking pictures of the odd sights. It was easy to keep pedaling.
Below are a few shots I took on my ride today. After my pictures, I’m going to show you a few taken yesterday by a 17-year-old named Miles Hearne. I don’t know Miles. He emailed me out of the blue. Miles tells me he took a photography class last year and really got into it. He has been working as a delivery driver during quarantine to earn the money to buy the camera that he used to take these pictures.
Here’s what I saw on Sunday, May 31:
And here is what Miles saw yesterday. Copyright Miles Hearne, people!
