Get Your Bitch Walk On

With the first week of work behind me, I have made various observations about my job and how this new career is taking me places I've never been, never would have gone otherwise and allowed me to reflect upon myself in ways I never thought I would have to.

First, a quick reminder of what it is I actually do. I'm an executive assistant/office manager for a non-profit that creates and runs after school programs for inner city youth. Our offices are located in what can be considered the inner city of Denver. It is one of the most economically and educationally deprived neighborhoods in the state of Colorado. I live in southern suburban Denver, an area that people who don't live here consider to be pretty hoity-toity. Seriously, people, it's not as upper-crust as you think. You should meet some of our neighbors. But no matter, there is an insurmountable difference between where I live and where I work.

The first major observation I've made regards the train. I don't want to drive 45 minutes, through traffic everyday to get to work, I don't like driving, I don't like traffic, I don't want to be stressed about getting to work. Problem solved: the southern most train stop is a 5-10 minute drive from the house and work is about a 6-7 block walk from the northern most stop on the train. The train is a beautiful thing, and I will gladly shell out the money for a monthly pass until I live somewhere that I would consider to be within driving distance.

The interesting thing about the train is the difference between it's beginning and ending points. The northbound train (the one I take to work) starts in suburban Denver. The station is located next to a rather high-end strip mall. The most affordable stores there are GAP and Pier1. There's also an Apple Store, Banana Republic, Sharper Image, Pottery Barn, William Sonoma and such there. I don't shop there, and when I do I buy things, they're on ultra clearance. It may not be Cherry Creek, but it's up there. Everything in this area was built in the last half of the 20th century. The train travels through suburban Denver following the train tracks through more industrial/commercial areas. You'll see everything from tape factories to wholesale pottery outlets to manager training centers. The train travels through downtown Denver, past the Performing Arts Center, 16th Street Mall, winds its way past the Qwest Building and various other skyscrapers, eventually traveling through more residential areas--mainly the residential areas of Five Points--before it ending at a stop situated between houses and various locally owned businesses, all of which were built in the early 1900s. In the mornings I get on the train with people who look very similar to me: middle-class, Caucasians with office jobs. When I get on the train at night, I am the minority. Of course this changes once the train reaches downtown, but being from one of the most homogeneous populations in the country--Wyoming--being the minority, for any period of time, is a new and different experience. I'm definitely not in Wyoming anymore.

Secondly, when people found out where I would be working, they generally became concerned that I would be walking, by myself, from where the train line ended to the office. My dad offered to buy me a sawed-off shotgun for Christmas; I assured everyone I would at least buy a can of pepper spray. As long as I walk with confidence (one of J's good friends who lives in DC calls it her "bitch walk") and be attentive to what's going on around me, I really have no qualms about my walk to work. So, upon being dropped off at the train station on my first day of work, the last thing J said to me as I stepped out of the car was "Don't forget to get your bitch walk on." Don't worry folks, it's on.

Besides, Five Points is really improving, sure at one time it was a really bad place to be, and it's certainly not the best place to be yet, but there are some really great neighborhoods and it really is transitioning into something better. And the reason I travel 5 days a week to a "transitional" neighborhood is because the people I work for are trying to make it a better place to live.

If anything, so far, this job has made me keenly aware of my white girl from Wyoming status. A lot of times I feel naive and inexperienced for this job; other times the naivity makes me realize how lucky I am to have grown up in the environment that I did. Just as my previous job allowed to see an all encompassing view of affordable housing--the truths and misconceptions, this job allows me to see an all encompassing picture of an entirely different socio-economic class than my own, the truths and misconceptions.

I may be naive and inexperienced, but at least I know that now, and I have the means and the opportunity to change that.