Flyover People
Cheryl Unruh
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
I’VE LIVED IN four towns in my lifetime; Lawrence is one of them.
As a result of those impressionable college years, my KU memories are stacked as high as Mount Oread.
These days when I walk (uphill, it’s all uphill) on the University of Kansas campus, it feels strange to put my feet where they stood at age 19, 20, 21.
I remember the excitement of having my whole life ahead of me, and I also recall the anxiety of suddenly having to make career decisions.
But building calf muscles and trying to reclaim my youth are not the only reasons for my frequent pilgrimages to Lawrence.
There’s a magic about this town, a vibrant energy. And that’s what keeps bringing me back to River City.
When my thoughts go stale, when my writing topics seem as dry as the Arkansas River bed in Western Kansas, I take a spin up the turnpike and hang out in Larryville.
Because Lawrence is my muse.
I can sit at a coffeehouse table for hours, spreading ink across the pages of a spiral notebook. Massachusetts Street is like caffeine; it’s my creative vortex.
Recently, my friend, Tracy, and I visited Lawrence where we heard novelist Karen Stolz speak at a Kansas Authors Club meeting. After the talk, we picked up Tracy’s niece, Ashley, a KU student, and went downtown for lunch.
On every block, cafes spill out onto the wide sidewalks, giving diners an outdoor option.
Downtown Lawrence has a world of food choices. You’ll find the Vermont Street BBQ, India Palace, Aladdin Café, The Mad Greek, The Orient and Zen Zero, just for starters.
Tracy, Ashley and I were pulled into a new restaurant, Angler’s Seafood House. I enjoyed a fish taco with jasmine rice.
Lawrence has a Maine Street, but Massachusetts Street is the main drag. In the downtown area you’ll find a multitude of restaurants, taverns, and coffeehouses mixed in with clothing and specialty shops, bookstores, galleries, a psychic, a day spa and much more.
Along Mass. Street, you’ll often hear musicians playing guitars, flutes, saxophones and even maracas.
Neon signs glow in store windows. The aroma of food drifts along the sidewalk. Shade trees and overflowing planters soften the streetscape.
It’s not all crimson and blue here; business owners are not afraid of the color wheel. That splash of color is one of my favorite things about downtown Lawrence.
A lime green stairway leads customers to the Love Garden, a second-floor store which sells vinyl records, CDs and cassettes. Yellow umbrellas shade tables outside of Tellers, an upscale restaurant set in a former bank building. And at the Jazzhaus, a zebra-striped entryway welcomes guests.
Other storefronts are trimmed in teal, turquoise, coral, apricot, lavender and hunter green.
Later, Tracy and I stopped at Java Break, a coffee shop which has a maze of rooms with ‘50s dinette tables and mismatched hanging lamps from the ‘60s and ‘70s. Students were scattered about, locked into their own worlds by laptops and iPods.
The 24-hour Java Break offers coffee, smoothies and pastries – and a cereal bar. Because when you’re up all night studying, what could be better at 3 a.m. than a bowl of Lucky Charms?
During my college years, the sad truth is that I spent most of my time earning money and trying to make sense of classes like Major British Authors after 1800 - and I didn’t fully appreciate this town.
So now, each trip to Lawrence gives me back a bit of that 20-year-old girl who was too preoccupied to see the city around her. I return to enjoy the international cuisine, the busy sidewalks, the maraca players.
Oh yeah, and then there’s that whole muse thing.
• “Flyover People” is online at www.flyoverpeople.net. Cheryl Unruh can be reached at cheryl@flyoverpeople.net.