Wednesday, March 02, 2005
(11:33 AM) | Adam R:
"Death Won't Even Be Still"
I grew up in a small city called Auburn, New York. I like that upstate NY was settled so long ago -- most of the towns were founded before the revolution and remnants of that era still exist. Things aren't like that here in the midwest.Here is one similarity, though: at the end of the block where I grew up (and this street, Alden Avenue, just so you know, is only two blocks long) grows a young tree. Underneath that tree sits the baseball cap of Adam Walsh. He disappeared when he was a boy and is assumed to be dead. You may have seen the gumball machines or the show, "Unsolved Mysteries," which started in his behalf. Apparently, his uncle lives on Alden Ave. and that tree stands in tribute.
At the end of the block where I currently reside there is a tree adorned with balloons and posters wet with snow. At the base sit all manner of liquor bottles: Courvoisier, Schmirnoff Ice. Apparently, a young man was shot dead their a few weeks ago. He is survived by a large family and a small baby. It's nice that the tree was written up in Riverwest Currents, which is the best neighborhood monthly I've ever seen.
Also, when Milwaukee was founded as a great lakes port in the 1830s, Solomon Juneau was elected mayor. He was a fur trader. Apparently there was some discord between him and another big shot and they separated the town at the river. That's why Wisconsin Avenue has to jog a bit before the bridge at Water Street.
And, according to legend, Auburn's city council had to choose between having part of the Erie Canal navigated through it or a maximum security prison. They chose the prison and became home of the electric chair.
So there you go.
