to the left, a retirement home for asian people

San Jose has a newish city hall. It sits on top of what used to be old Victorian houses and a few homeless shelters and churches that served really cheap breakfasts in the mornings. Some of the Victorian houses were moved a few blocks down the street and done up. I don't know where the homeless people went.

For a while I taught at one public and one private university at the same time. I would drive for twenty minutes between my two jobs and be in completely different worlds. I am not going to say that poor people are closer to the truth, but I am going to say that sometimes money distances you from the lives of ordinary people.