There are a few still left in town to show their devotion to each other, the town, and the institution named Twist. In all of America, Memorial Day Weekend represents all that is community, whatever that may entail. But, on Miami Beach it means running away. The flight out of town began on Thursday; most everyone I know left town and, those who didn't, decided it was an ideal weekend to do home improvement.

Memorial Day Weekend used to be called Hip Hop Weekend; it has now become a euphemism : Urban Festival Weekend. Past years of riots, police snipers on roofs, and ruined business tainted the weekend as a need-to-escape venue. Personally, I have found the last years to be rather tame compared to 2003,when riot police from dozens of neighboring towns manned every corner.

Mr. Astor had to work today and, I took the opportunity to do--what else--home improvement. All is peaceful up here; our neighborhood is very much out of the touch of anything but pool parties and glib conversation. Mr. A. and I have discussed meeting up with Susie at Twist at seven tonight; in my opinion, as long as you can go door-to-door, all is fine.