Summary

In “Always Something There to Remind Me,” Chapter 1, Ellen continued to live at Sola. The city had changed, installing checkpoints, and evicting the poor. Ellen stayed, working as a delivery biker for a company called Lacuna. However, she sometimes worked for paychecks “that never came” (178). Most New Yorkers could not afford to stay in the city, but those who “had nowhere to go” moved into encampments (179).

Before these changes, Ellen ran Sola’s community garden, co-op, and after-school program (179). She stopped believing in the future, but “still believed in [her] building” (180). Then one day, Ellen’s housemate Sunny told her about Landing, “a future new development . . . under construction in the empty lot” she biked past each morning (181).

Many of Ellen’s friends had moved out of the city and encouraged her to leave, too. This lifestyle felt...