What appeals to me most about the birdhouses is that they just showed up; no one announced anything, nothing was organized.

Last summer I was just driving down the street when I noticed there was a birdhouse in the Meadowbrook median area. A week or so later I noticed another one, and then more and more showed up. Now, just about every cross-street has one.

I just don't think this kind of thing happens everywhere, and I love the sense of community it creates. When I returned to Syracuse from graduate school in New York City, I wondered if I had done the right thing — leaving behind all that art and activity. But there are readers and writers and thinkers in Syracuse, and I'm happy to live here, in the neighborhood I live in.