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When I’m walking around other common areas of the building, I try my best to minimize my presence but so far it seems that whenever I encounter someone else, especially during the day, when they feel that I’m supposed to be at work, it feels to me that I’m a figment of their imagination, and not in a good sense.
Almost a, why is this guy working out at this time of day? Doesn’t he have a job? I do my best to check my privilege at any time in the day when I enter the underground parking garage with a female by creating some distance or yawning or jangling my car keys so that they know that I have a car parked down there too.
But from my perspective, these stares stand and continue longer than they should. I get part of the observation – condos in my city are mini community hubs, so they have every right to wonder who the “new guy” is. When I go down to the condo gym around ten in the morning, I feel subtle yet inquisitive stares. I’ve been met with cold responses and void eye contact. In the elevator, I try to extend my courtesies with “good mornings” and “what floor?” with folks who happen to share the space with me. But since I’ve been living in this new location, I have begun to sense a peculiar vibe about my very own neighbors. It was perfect for me because, being a teacher, it was the time of year that I have the most availability. I moved smack dab in the middle of summertime. And since I moved into a so-called more established part of my city, I’ve taken a new found appreciation to the track. Cole, made a song titled Neighbors “inspired” by a SWAT raid on his house after his rich white neighbors called the police based on the assumption that he sold drugs.