You can always come back
but you can’t come back all the way
— Bob Dylan, “Mississippi”
I’m walking along with Summer Lee, a progressive democrat running for state representative of District 34 of Allegheny County in Pittsburgh. Lee and I are walking through Homestead, an area I’ve lived in or around and worked in or around most of my life. We are collecting signatures to get Lee on the ballot for the upcoming primary; people are generally supportive, though having worked the Homestead field office for Obama ’08, I know that many of the residents here are rightfully wary of any and all things political. Homestead is a town that lost its world-famous steel mill in the 80’s and has been resisting gentrification ever since.
We’re talking to some folks at a bus stop on the corner of 8th and Anne, in front of a credit union which has changed hands a few times and is only notable for having a red ticker which poorly displays the temperature. Today is it 342 degrees outside. Next to us a Valero gas station where they’ll sell you a cigarette for fifty cents; across from us is a check cashing place where I used to buy greyhound tickets in cash because I was paranoid my probation officer could trace if I used a card.
