This is such an interesting topic to me that I must discuss it online on a Saturday morning. There are birds outside feasting on the birdfeed. The quietude of my town and residence by far exceed anything anyone else has written on Dkos today. So I am throwing down the gauntlet. I love small town America. Small town America rocks, because small town America is real.
Not that big city America isn't real. It is. And it's lovable. I love big city America, because big city America does sustain and generate what we can call Culture. The melting pot rocks. I miss the city. But in my small town, aspects "the city" are integrated into the fabric of day to day existence. The cafe, for example, exists here. And at the cafe you can hear high quality jazz music all day. Then you can walk outside and see Manny driving his tractor down main street at 5mph.
Furthermore, since my small town is located near the water it allows folks to generate annoying but enjoyable trends for themselves. Like, for example, ocean kayaking. What a load of crap! But it makes me laugh, so I love it. These people are funny, with their fucking kayaks. Get a job dammit. Oh, wait. They have jobs. That's right. That's why they can enjoy the strangeness of ocean kayaking.
Whatever happened to the backyard barbecue. "Remember back in the day, when people had ways, to sell you shades, and corn braids, shootin skelly, sistahs had the high top jellies...But step away from your high class ways motherfucker this ain't back in the day... But you don't hear me though...(Bigee Small)
Anyway this ain't back in the day but that's ok. I wish the damn skate park would go away though. That's one thing I could do without. But that's just me. I'd rather see someone kicking a soccer ball or bouncing a basket ball or flying a kite. Skaters doing their thing twenty yards from the town tennis courts is really fucking stupid. Aesthetics people, aesthetics.
Now fishing is still reliable. People go fishing here. You see them with their tackle and bait and such at the waters edge. But now if you go up the street and around the corner to the old pier, where we used to fish as kids, now you see seventy two Hmong leaning over the rope to snag squid. And all the license plates are from out of state. Still they have to pay the entrance fee to the park, so there is some justice. And I'm not saying there's anything wrong with snagging squid enmasse to the exclusion of local kids. It just pisses me off that I have to watch the event. I hate the look of powerlessness on Johnny's face when he has no place to stand at the pier. Then again it's cool to see the Asians fish, because they fish for real. This ain't no downtime event. This ain't extra curricular. Motherfuckers can fish, and when they fish it leads to more fishing. Squid beget stripers which beget food for the long haul and cash to pay the bills. But I digress....
These days small town America rocks, and not just because it produces the occasional American idol. In fact, small town America rocks because it ignores American idol. (Fuck American Idol, by the way). Man in my small town there is so much talent so much diversity of thought and opinion, and so much correctness it makes you want to puke. We are a tiny town, and we are breaking the mold for gentrification. We are the nouveau gentrification model. You can't live here anymore unless you have a second home somewhere. You must at least have a condo with access to a ski resort, and you must aspire to join the yacht club and/or get a golf membership.
It's funny. There's so much to do here. You can go to one of three churches, be catholic, episcopalian or baptist. You can study yoga and meditation in the neighboring small town.
Sometimes it's so peaceful and quiet and revolutionary here in small town america that i can do whatever i want including writing for free.
Don't fuck with small town America. We've been here a long time. We can criticize ourselves. But you can't. Really. Give it a rest. Criticise your own neighborhood for fun, or move out if you can't take it. Or check out the many intentional communities advertised online. Maybe you'll begin to see that you are the problem and not your town or my town.