Sunday August 23, 2020: Near Second and 26th
A discouraging day. Same uncooperative stubborn people.
Saturday August 22, 2020: Some apartments in Oak Park, plus a new luxury apartment complex
Luxury apartments reminded me of a Las Vegas retreat. Most of the apartments are vacant. Started to interview one student whose parents were absent, but she abruptly stopped cooperation. Did say she was there because the wifi was better than at her parents' other house. For the price they are paying, the wifi better be fantastic!
Friday August 21, 2020: Near my house, and in Curtis Park
Had an intense proxy discussion with a fellow I recognized from the radio.
Thursday August 20, 2020: Near my house, near Franklin & 2nd, and northern reaches of Oak Park
I met the argumentative man who refused to cooperate on Tuesday. He still refuses to cooperate, but suggested if I keep approaching him he might eventually relent.
The poorly-dressed fellow looked like a Chinese sage. "There were renters her for awhile, in the Sixties, but this house has been vacant for decades! We let the census people know the house was vacant, but they keep sending people. They sent people in 1970, and they sent people in 1980, and they sent people in 1990, and they sent people in 2000, and they sent people in 2010, and they send people now, even though I mailed in my census form just last week! But the mail is slow! They don't even have paper forms anymore. It's all about computers now! The people who own the house are old! They are in their 90's!"
I had my first problem with language. I tried to interview a Bosnian man, but he doesn't speak English. Fun to listen to his music though.
Wednesday August 19, 2020: X Street, near Franklin & Second, and in Oak Park along Third Avenue
Strangely-enough, a restaurant was on my list. No one lives in the restaurant.
Found a hovel. There might be more hovels nearby. The woman was sitting on her bed in her trash-filled room, with flies and garbage present. The place reeked. I stayed as far away as I could, outside the door. She babbled nonsense and was difficult to interview. For example: "I am the Middleman, the Vice President of the United States, and the Ruler." M'kay.
The thin, whitish-purple-haired lady with the hippie house and the fancy rooster was suspicious of my inquiries. She said she had submitted her census data in March, but wondered whether the enumerator was a fake sent by her ex-husband to extract information. "He did try to kill me, once," she said.
I recognized the woman in the wheelchair. We were both in a health-maintenance class we took two years ago. When we got to her Irish background, she started singing Irish tunes. Fun!
Talked to a grandmother and her two grandkids. Really complicated backgrounds, from Alabama way. The kids called me the Censor Man.
A kid visiting his grandma's tried to help me understand the odd way the apartment complex was marked.
Gunthers was not busy, so I got two scoops of Swiss-Orange ice cream before the crowds came.
Tuesday August 18, 2020: X Street corridor and near San Fernando Way
An argumentative man refused to cooperate.
The little kid took me for the Door Dash man, and wondered where the food was.
Two tales of woe. A woman had a leg injury, and her mother died, so she moved into her mother's house to heal.
A man had a stroke and was moved by his sister in May to Oregon for his recovery.
Monday, August 17, 2020: Local Curtis Park sites
The recent transplant from Colorado really likes her new house, but the California weather has thrashed her back yard.
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