Through one of those convoluted series of clicks (daily update from Tom Tomorrow to TBogg via a touching Memorial Day cartoon from Garry Trudeau to an awful representative from what would have been my birthplace if my original hometown had a hospital (my parents were living in Poca, WV when I was born, but had to drive to Charleston for the nearest hospital)) I finally stumbled upon a little piece of home. Rick Lee is a local photographer who occasionally posts pictures from around Charleston on his blog. What's funny is the historical street featured in the link is actually a fairly sketchy alley once the sun sets. Even in a place as small-town and generally safe as Charleston, it's not really a stretch of town you want to stroll through alone at night. Sure, it's cute and quaint, and is the short cut from the mall to my favorite part of town, a block featuring my favorite coffee shop (Taylor Books, of which there are also pictures on Lee's site, but mostly featuring him and his friends rather than the shop itself) and an excellent ice cream shop, and a few blocks further down, the Farmer's Market. When I was in high school I also took this short cut to Common Grounds, the long-defunct all-ages alternative club in town. But the end of the street not featured in Lee's photos opens up on the local bus station and a 'park' that is generally a gathering place for transients and drug dealers, even moreso now that the aforementioned club was shut down by the city. (the club was directly across the street from the 'park' and although certain members of the city liked to believe it was all the 'angry kids' frequenting Common Grounds causing problems, in general the large late night crowd kept some of the scarier elements in and around the 'park' in check)