BLINK: Up Leaves Fall Down by Max Ink

Up Leaves Fall Down “Autumn’s Playground” & “Time And A Few Words”

Max Ink Writer/Artist Dedication: To Matt Slaybaugh and “The Absurdity of Writing Poetry”

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Creatorial “I’m just a happy kid, stuck in the heart of an old punk.” --Happy Kid, Nada Surf

here are two stories contained herein—one about age and perception and one about crossword puzzles. Time And A Few Words is a humorous romp through crossword clues and wordplay. In my mind, the less said about crossword puzzles, the better. (My mind is like Blink’s in that regard; see page 12, panel 4 for clarification.) However, the other story—Autumn’s Playground—I could go on for pages regaling you with my thoughts on aging, innocence/optimism vs. experience/cynicism and so many more ideas that come to mind when re-reading that little 4-page trip back in time.

hen I wrote that story, I was in my mid-30s and there still remained some feelings of my “innocence” that was an all-encompassing quality of my first two decades of life. Now that I’ve passed the big four-oh mark—and its strange (and arbitrary) numerical delineation—the perception of my self, in regards to where I stand in the temporal world, has changed. “You’re as young (or old) as you feel” --or so they say. Sometimes I feel old (my hair’s graying at the temples and I can look forward to wearing bifocals within the next five years) and other times I feel young (I’m still pretty limber and energetic—on average, I bicycle around town about 75 miles a week). But that old/young trap is mostly concerned with the body, the corporal self. We are more than just flesh and bone—we’re of mind and spirit as well. That’s were wisdom and playfulness enter into the equation.

hen I see children at play, I smile and nod in agreement. Having fun is what they’re supposed to do—they’re kids for crimminy sakes. I recall when my own children climbed and jumped and giggled with such abandon and as a young parent, I played along with them in equal measure. However, as the years have passed my children have played less on the swing sets in the backyard and more on the canvases of their minds and souls (all of them are creative types, a visual artist, an actress and a musician).

have some friends who still possess and express that same playful quality (more so than I) and there are many times that my eyes have rolled to the sky as they “goofed around” and “wasted time.” But to play, to enjoy life with youthful abandon is a gift that people tend to forget as they age. They become “realists” and want to live in a world of certitude and not be consumed by “a haze of wishful thinking.” I suffer from that affliction too, but I hope that I can release myself from fear and inhibition and revisit that playground of wishful thinking from time to time.

The Local Story Italian Village is one of Columbus' first suburbs– located just north of Downtown; the neighborhood was annexed to the city of Columbus in 1862. Italian Village flourished well into the 1940's because of its walkability to shopping and its proximity to downtown. The area began to decline after World War II as some of the residents moved to newer suburbs. By the 1970's, the population had decreased, the physical condition of the area was deteriorating and the threat of having more and more historic buildings demolished, so the remaining residents decided to take action and formed the Italian Village Society in 1972 and a City Council Commission a year later. This helped to determine the appropriateness of restoration / reconstruction of old buildings and encouraged new construction projects in order to preserve those features of the property that are significant to the historical, architectural, and cultural character of Italian Village. Skully’s Music Diner and Cafe (1151 North High Street) Skully’s is a pretty regular winner of local polls for “Best Dance Club” and “Best Ladies Night.”

Stauf’s

$3.00

BLINK is published by ONWARDStudio