From the day
Perspective: The Anxious Local · Sight
The neon signs flickering over the slushy streets reflect off the lenses of those new mass-produced sunglasses everyone is wearing, even in this dismal December gloom. I squinted at the newsstand headlines about more political chaos in China and felt a shiver; everything feels like utter baloney when eleven cents for a loaf of bread is starting to feel like a king’s ransom. A tinny speaker from a passing sedan’s new car radio blared *Singin' in the Rain* by Nacio Herb Brown, mocking my damp wool coat and the general sense of dread hanging over the city. I tightened my grip on my collar, watching a young man nervously loop his Duncan Yo-Yo, his frantic rhythm matching the rising prices and the cold, sinking feeling in my gut.