Your Brain Gets Smart But Your Head Gets Dumb

"You'll Never Know If You Don't Go" - Comic (July 17, 2025) by Marian Schurman

"Ruelle" is a word that was only just introduced to me this past year. I grew up in a suburb off on the Montreal island, and any back streets we had were simply alleys of convenience between houses for quicker bus stop access. They were city owned and managed, though most of them didn't appear to have any maintenance to them at all. In fact, the one closest to my childhood home was nicknamed by my siblings as "doggy doo alley" because of all the mess that was never cleaned up. As such, ruelles are new and fascinating to me. They're like tiny glimpses into the small lives that city apartment owners can utilize for their own benefits (if they have time, I suppose) and can often offer insights into those that live in the area depending on the upkeep. It is different, more intimate, and I would even add 'unbothered' compared to the street-facing fronts of apartment buildings.

They've each got little bits of personality to them that I wasn't expecting taking our first walk through the village. They're sort of too small to park any cars in them, so what vehicles you do see are mostly bikes and scooters. You've got plants, managed and unmanaged. Sometimes heaps of garbage thrown around as well, but more often I saw signs asking specifically for people to not leave their litter around. It is the owners' property, and they wish to keep in maintained, not only for themselves, but for those walking around. If i had more time to take walks, I would probably be going through ruelles all the time.

Then, what's wrong with taking our time? It seems that we just don't have enough of it most days. We're constantly asked to be somewhere or wanting to be somewhere else. When I used to walk all the time, there would be moments, fleeting and inconsequential, where I would ask myself to take more time with observing my surroundings. These moments wouldn't ever realize any great epiphanies, but can be looked at in retrospect with more nuance and nostalgia.

This comic was inspired by the iconic lyrics of All Star by Smash Mouth (1999), that for any millennial I think made a significant impact in their psyche in the early 2000s.

Well, the years start comin' and they don't stop comin'

Fed to the rules and I hit the ground runnin'

Didn't make sense not to live for fun

Your brain gets smart but your head gets dumb

So much to do, so much to see

So what's wrong with taking the backstreets?

You'll never know if you don't go

You'll never shine if you don't glow

We never really do get the chance to just stop and listen, look, and feel. Everything is just going too fast, and even as I write this little response, I'm flooded by other responsibilities that could be occupying my time. But I want to spend time on this. I want to be able to walk around the streets of Montreal and feel a sense of wonder at humanity. I love the opportunity this project has given me to spare these moments of introspection, because otherwise, I don't know when I would have done it.