Don't+Go+Gentle+into+That+Good+Expressway

Rodriguez Blue Book Unit 1

Don’t Go Gentle Into That Good Expressway by Luis J. Rodriguez

They say people in New York City are cold, that they enter like the blackness of night and rip into you when you shine with the weakness of a smile. They say, you can’t smile in New York City because it could be a death warrant. A kind word is a likely ticket to a back-street mugging. Nobody

cares in New York City.

But I don’t know…the city seemed refreshing to me. People were upfront. They yelled, they laughed, they had no qualms about your worth. I could walk these streets and face anyone and be crazier that the craziest dude <span style="color: #5e1616; display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 30px; text-align: left;">and ride the subways looking untouchable <span style="color: #5e1616; display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 30px; text-align: left;">and nobody knew whether to talk to me <span style="color: #5e1616; display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 30px; text-align: left;">or walk away. In most cities <span style="color: #5e1616; display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 30px; text-align: left;">madness seethes below the skin. <span style="color: #5e1616; display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 30px; text-align: left;">In New York City, it storms through the eyes. <span style="color: #5e1616; display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 30px; text-align: left;"> <span style="color: #5e1616; display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 30px; text-align: left;">And, at least once, New York City <span style="color: #5e1616; display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 30px; text-align: left;">showed me some heart. <span style="color: #5e1616; display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 30px; text-align: left;">I had entered a packed expressway when a bobtail <span style="color: #5e1616; display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 30px; text-align: left;">truck in front of me rammed into a stalled car.

<span style="color: #5e1616; display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 30px; text-align: left;">Fire then flared out of the truck’s hood. <span style="color: #5e1616; display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 30px; text-align: left;">The truck driver dove out the side window <span style="color: #5e1616; display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 30px; text-align: left;">onto the asphalt and struck his head. <span style="color: #5e1616; display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 30px; text-align: left;">As he lay unconscious, we all got out <span style="color: #5e1616; display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 30px; text-align: left;">of our cars; somebody ran to an emergency phone <span style="color: #5e1616; display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 30px; text-align: left;">to summon help. <span style="color: #5e1616; display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 30px; text-align: left;">The rest of us rushed over to the driver. <span style="color: #5e1616; display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 30px; text-align: left;">We looked at each other and figured if we <span style="color: #5e1616; display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 30px; text-align: left;">didn’t move him, the truck could explode <span style="color: #5e1616; display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 30px; text-align: left;">and break up over his body. But to move him <span style="color: #5e1616; display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 30px; text-align: left;">meant the risk of getting sued, <span style="color: #5e1616; display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 30px; text-align: left;">A New Yorker reasoned next to me. <span style="color: #5e1616; display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 30px; text-align: left;">In the seconds that followed, <span style="color: #5e1616; display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 30px; text-align: left;">we decided that everyone there <span style="color: #5e1616; display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 30px; text-align: left;">would take a hold of the guy. <span style="color: #5e1616; display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 30px; text-align: left;">Somebody got an arm, another a leg… <span style="color: #5e1616; display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 30px; text-align: left;">one guy just placed a hand on the dude’s chest. <span style="color: #5e1616; display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 30px; text-align: left;">

<span style="color: #5e1616; display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 30px; text-align: left;">We carried the truck driver to the side <span style="color: #5e1616; display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 30px; text-align: left;">of the road. An ambulance finally came. <span style="color: #5e1616; display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 30px; text-align: left;">We continued to stand by the dude <span style="color: #5e1616; display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 30px; text-align: left;">until they laid him on a stretcher <span style="color: #5e1616; display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 30px; text-align: left;">and the truck in the distance <span style="color: #5e1616; display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 30px; text-align: left;">burst into a blaze. <span style="color: #5e1616; display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 30px; text-align: left;"> <span style="color: #5e1616; display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 30px; text-align: left;">