The City Is Alive

I've spent another silent month on Blogger. So much has changed in my life over that time, so many thoughts have been thought, so many SNL clips have been watched on Hulu. Blogging was meant for these things. Sigh. I'll try to catch up on all of the above, but not tonight.

Anyway, 700,000 people packed the Louisville Waterfront for Thunder Over Louisville, today, thus beginning the Kentucky Derby Festival. Due to work and other mitigating circumstances, I decided to pass on North America's largest fireworks show in favor of watching the UFC 97 pay-per-view at a friends house. My dear brother Nathan Ivey gave me a ride and the conversation there and back again gave me some incredible points to ponder. Traffic was pretty heavy, still, when we returned to the neighborhood where my car was parked, so I volunteered to go ahead and walk the remaining two blocks rather than make Nathan go through the trouble needed to finish the chauffeuring.

Walking down Baxter Avenue, home to Louisville's leading Irish Pubs (save the Rover), I was overwhelmed with a sensation I had not felt since in Thailand in 2006. I could feel the electricity of the city, feel it's vibrancy. The sidewalks and bars swarmed with people, the streets buzzed with taxis and motorcycles. In that moment, I thought about the confluence of desire and expectation that was represented here: joy, excitement, lust, drunkenness, excess. I was reminded how much my city has to offer, and how badly my city needs the Gospel. It was a great finish to a great evening. Awesome.