Someplace I've never been....

Doing all these OCW assignments has been really interesting for me. Every single one of them is outside of Long Beach and every time I go out it's alway something new and strange. Portraits of a couple in an overgrown lot where their house once stood. Runway practice for a transgender beauty pageant in a parking lot. A row of candy colored apartments that are infested and crumbling.

I groan a little with dread when I see how far they are, but at the same time I get a queasy excitement from going somewhere I've never been. It's a mix of adventure and dread. Wanting to see what's out there, while wanting to stay at home. It reminds me of one of my favorite passages by Diane Arbus.

My favorite thing is to go where I've never been.For me there's something about just going intosomebody else's house. When it comes time togo, if I have to take a bus to somewhere or if Ihave to take a cab uptown, it's like I've got ablind date. It's always seemed something likethat to me. And sometimes I have a sinkingfeeling of, Oh God it's time and I really don'twant to go. And then, once I'm on my way,something terrific takes over about the sort ofqueasiness of it and how there's absolutely nomethod for control.