Listing
Whenever I'm in a new place, I like to make lists of what I notice. In the same way that journaling can unearth emotional subtleties, I find that my lists make clearer the nuances of 'sameness' and 'difference' in the new place I find myself. Right now, the place is Malta and the newness is overwhelming and exciting and undoubtedly list-worthy. Just like the Phonecians, Romans, Byzantines, French, and British (in that order), I conquer Valletta, making each street my own. The city is small enough for me to walk the whole perimeter, and big enough for new things to stand out to me every time I do. 1. I ride the elevator with a baby, who turns to me solemnly, babbling nonsense with an air of utmost importance. That is, I think it's nonsense, until I realize that the babble is not in fact babble but French. An immature dialect, if I do say so myself. Babble or not, it is irrelevant. Either way the words rattle around in my brain but fail to make sense, and I leav...
