All Over Albany

Interesting in 2009: Leigh Cummings

One of the best things about working on AOA is that we've get the chance to meet a lot of interesting people. We'll be highlighting a handful of them between now and the start of 2010.

It's always a good day in the Neighborhood when a new post from Leigh Cummings pops up.

Leigh's blog is filled with great little stories about life in Albany -- the small joys, odd characters and occasional frustrations. We especially enjoy Leigh's (Mori)Bus Philosophorum posts -- a regular series about riding CDTA -- because of the way it portrays the bus not so much as a means of transportation, but as a rolling lab for studying people and their habits.

The thing we really love about Leigh's blog is that Albany comes across as this lyrical, almost magical place where the bus driver knows your name, your co-worker lives in your great aunt's former house and "we all give what we can."

We recently emailed Leigh a few questions and she bounced back answers...

You seem to have a mix of love and frustration for riding bus -- how much of that is love and how much is frustration?

Oh it's 51% love, 49% frustration, or vice versa, depending on the day. You have to make a conscious effort all the time to be more patient and zen about the whole process, because public transportation is never going to be everything you want it to be. On the good days, though, when people are friendly and everything's running on time, I wouldn't trade the bus experience for anything. It's always an adventure and obviously great fodder for me.

What's your favorite story about Albany?

I'm fascinated by the story of Albany that's being written right now; the fact that social media is bringing together so many people from different backgrounds who love Albany, its history, and what it could be in the future. The talent and energy that I see in so many places is really exciting. Albany's present a page-turner for sure.

What's up for 2010?

Twist: I'm getting a car! (Kidding.) There will still be lots of stories about the bus experiences that make me laugh or shake my head. My main goal with the blog is to keep finding humor and potential in public transportation, but as always I'll be throwing in bits about life in Center Square. This spring I'll be adding a regular column about my first venture into urban gardening, which should be... entertaining.

Leigh's blog recently moved (here's the old site).