If you walk on Jordan Ave. south of campus, look north and you can see the university library from across town. The elevation of the terrain and no trees covering the path, seeing it will amaze you at how far a horizon can actually be. Usually I don't notice this library until I've left the south of campus suburbs and am entering campus proper.

Today I walked on an dead empty Jordan Ave with no distractions. I looked up and watched the library and felt a bit chilled. It wasn't just the library that chilled me. More so how ghostly this neighborhood felt. During the school year this road is filled with students, professors, and just traffic overall. I used to enjoy Sunday walks here because of how much emptier it felt on the holy day compared to the rest.

Today was the first time that I walked in this neighborhood while wanting for more of a crowd. A feeling I had while driving downtown came back to me as I got off Jordan to head back home.

Just before Christmas I was driving near downtown noting the amount of closed businesses. I thought of the Micheal Moore documentaries I'd seen. I thought of all the rust belt towns that were deserted. And I thought of how I used to wonder how those people simply remained in place as their towns died. I used to consider they were foolish for not moving someplace else. Why stick around when everything is eroding?

While driving that's when I considered, those people probably thought that normal was just a year or two away. They thought, or hoped, that things would return. They didn't.

I looked around this town and thought of the pending college ghost towns. 

I pictured me not thinking this would happen here.