»The Stoop Report.

Unlike anything else, the stoop provides a respite, my place. This morning I stepped outside and as I stood looking up and down the street, Stan the UPS man drove by and waved; three women with strollers and ambling toddlers walked by, smiled and said "Good Morning"; Kilby the real-estate agent drove past and waved; and the old man with a cane -- who always sits on his stoop on the next block of Scott -- recgonized me and smiled.

Joy comes from the stoop. Merriment flows. And sitting on the stoop makes me quite happy indeed.

Neighborhood relationships and the pleasure of knowing the faces around me --