LUCA VALENTE, Film major, writes: He stands at the edge of the sidewalk holding his breath...the air is full of toxic smog that rises from the cars and construction zones to create an overcasting that completely blocks the energy that attempts to seep down from the sun. Cars violently drive by, rushed to reach their destinations. The traffic switches and the buff red man at the opposite end of the street turns into a brisk walking green fellow. His foot begins to inch down from the sidewalk...there is a moment of hesitation. This "other world," as so many refer to it back home, carries the risk of being something new. Something different. Something that could potentially not be understood or accepted. People step around him as he holds his hanging foot over the edge...the decision to be made: step into this new world with the risk of changing, or step back into the old with the risk of never changing. He straightens his back and looks forward as determination, mixed with curiosity, builds up inside of him. He pushes his foot down onto the street, only to quickly retract it as a swarm of bicyclists flies down the road with no intention of slowing down...a sign of a society in which the people are not only different, but a completely different species? Spitting on a restaurant floor, making u-turns across four lanes, continually honking the horn as they drive, selling home-made food on the streets, servicing "massages" to hotel guests, living in communal homes, continually demolishing and reconstructing buildings, accepting anyone to freely walk into their homes, congregating together in the parks in the early hours of the day, burning paper money for their ancestors, bargaining their trade...as bikes and scooters continue to sparingly pass by, he steps into the street with no hesitation and weaves his way across the road, satisfyingly reaching his destination. Survival. Humaneness.
