"Postcard to My Friends Uptown" by José Vadi

“Postcard to My Friends Uptown” by José Vadi

(July 3rd, 2014) 
“What’s really amazing is how often a human can think about sex in a day. Somehow I’ve never had sex in New York City. I write this as a baby cries in the shitty apartment with balconies behind me – and why do all hellholes have balconies? I was driving from LAX to Orange County’s John Wayne Airport in a rental van that had previously housed seven kids from around the world who now were all fed and on their way home, and it was at that time finally alone with my thoughts and my hometown engulfing me that I counted how many women I’ve slept with. I want to find some type of infographic of the number of men in America who have done the same using race, region, age, height, dick length/shoe size, sexual/gender preference, political affiliation, favorite DMX song and dietary restrictions as determining factors. It’s all about establishing boundaries – which I hate – but are helpful in art, let alone sex. Relationships. I make a lot of buttons now for a small press. I wonder if this is how Too Short felt selling tapes out the trunk. This trip to LA and the KDAY 93.5 FM hits of Dre and Quik made me realize what a stupid LA kid I am sometimes: prone to making many U-Turns, parking far and calling it exercise and enjoying driving around aimlessly. I’ve been professionally flexing recently and feel like I’m mot productive in the summer. I told Nathaniel I actually pay for pornography now and we both agreed I’m growing up. I’m looking forward to increasing the MexiRican population of 149th & St. Nick with you jerks later this month in Sugar Hill. Today is July 3rd and I feel crazy. Drinking a mundane and necessary coffee at this kitchen table that, the day I got it, I assembled and sat at for hours like a dual trophy case and anchor to my adulthood. I skate every night for exercise and am debating leaving the country. I got a good lady. The anti-immigrant protestors in Murrieta, CA remind me history is the most missing element to today’s culture. I’m happy y’all are killing it in NYC and not the other way around. Long live the buffalo and Nelson Mandela.”
José Vadi is a writer, performer, and educator living in Oakland, California. He is currently the inaugural director of the Off/Page Project.