I have a confession to make.  I have not been walking and updating regularly.  One excuse I can share is a technology failure as I have photos from a few previous walks which I cannot seem to upload.  Please stay tuned for a few previous walks in the future, as I get those pictures added in.

Nevertheless, it took a friend to hold me accountable and to point out that I have not been posting.  He, apparently, missed reading.  So I am back today with some pictures and some reflections on my continued focus on the North End of Mason City.   I walked South of 13th St. NE to 9th St.NE between Commercial Alley and New Jersey Ave.  As I walked, I was listening to an album by The Sons of Korah called Redemption Songs.

A beautiful and a busy day, this walk was enlivened by people raking yards, roofing houses, delivering flowers, riding bikes and walking dogs.

Don't Fall!

There are treasures of houses back in this corner of Mason City.  Many were decorated for Halloween, and there were some neat gardens and homes with gorgeous architectural styles, landscaping and paint.  The streets were small and there was not much traffic.  Many yards had playground equipment.  All in all, I kept thinking how lovely an area this would be to call my neighborhood.  

Very Tall Chimney

Spooky Halloween

Fancy Halloween

And then I came to this crossroads:

In August of 2011, after I had only been in Mason City, IA a month, there was murder that took place at this gas station.  It was the kind of terrible, avoidable and altogether awful homicide that no one wants to believe in: an argument between people that turned into life-ending tragedy.  Here was the place, peeping at me from behind this beautiful little neighborhood.  I hadn't meant to end up here, today, at another location on my Witness Walk project of walking Mason City.  I wasn't prepared.  It felt like vandalism, though there was nothing bad going on there today.  I thought: "These people in this white house had to look out on that tragedy.  They have to walk out their front door everyday to be reminded of the awful things that can happen.  The mailperson has to come right by here to deliver letters and bills."  

It seems that should not be so.  It seems that life-simple, everyday life-should not be marred by violence, hatred and fear.  It seems that these quiet streets, these lovely yards, these busy people should be able to live in security and trust.  I prayed that it will be so.  I prayed, in the song of the Psalmist "the earth is the Lord's and everything in it.  Praise the Lord!"      

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