Esposito Hitchhiker

Just outside of Telluride, past the Conoco on 46, we saw a young man trekking the lengthy incline south and slowed to let him enter our Elantra world of Blackalicious. Elantra saved his footsteps 42 miles and he was quite pleasant to have in the hatch; he gave us some local knowledge and hope for grandmothers everywhere! (he was hitchhiking down to Mancos to visit his dear G'ma)

Surprisingly, I did not inquire the fellow about his name. Christoph pointed out to me that I am nearly annoyingly interested in names. Every story he told, my first response would be about labeling lineages - everything from pets to parents, I required a full signature. This helps me capture an image of the characters involved in a story. It is an act of engagement to me; I want to store the memory, so I need details.

One of my favorites things about my morning co-worker is his method of recounting individuals from his past with full names. Isaac Coudorea, Maggie Nelson, Chelsea VanMach, Tapanga Lawerence... He even sneezes with a name: Abignali! I think names interest me so much because they are all so different and surprising. Learning new appellations is adding words to my vocabulary. It is even fun to hear a story about a person with the exact same name of someone I already know; the unknown leaned up against something familiar tickles me.

Words, letter combinations, sounds and memory sparks are all very enlivening to me. Language, in any form, brings me to life. "Rösti" are Swiss (*) hashbrowns. "Giggerig" is loosely translated from Swiss German to Love Crazy in English. "Jein" is German slang for "Yes/No"

Maybe I am crazy but I love burnt hashbrowns! Jein me giggerig, mais me gusto Rösti Brûlé!






Pictured above are (left to right) Pygmy and Steggy