Ren Buenviaje

every time i have a new project in a new city, i like to familiarize myself with my future pseudo-home by perusing craigslist.

other city guides might tell you where to eat, stay, and sightsee, but CL has a wealth of information on a city’s personalities, lifestyle, and standard of living. for example, heavy posting activity in the creative gigs section might signal a healthy art or theater scene. cool neighborhoods can be found through apartment posts listing desirable landmarks and amenities. an excessive amount of self-deprecating, desperate personals posts might prompt you not to hit those bars popular among the locals.

my next project is supposed to be in pittsburgh, so i spent the morning browsing through the pittsburgh CL page. to put theory into practice, i have listed some of my findings below. i’ll let you draw your own conclusions about pitt:

• apartments: “Exquisite area, just a short distance away from Wal-Mart Plaza and Beaver Valley Mall!”

• creative gigs: “Models/Talent Wanted (South Side) - Women wanted to perform sexy karaoke for web blog.”

• men seeking women: “I’m not grotesque, overweight, on drugs or an alcoholic, I was married but haven’t been on the dating scene since I had hair.”

(side note: there are over 100 posts already for men seeking men—meanwhile, only 25 posts for men seeking women…normal in san francisco, but pittsburgh?)

• strictly platonic: “Looking for a female to tag along to the tittie bar - I’m a rather large guy (ie. fucking fat), so it’d be nice if you didn’t look totally out of place hanging with me. Age doesn’t matter, as long as you’re 21, or have a very convincing ID.”