Sunday, July 28, 2019

Sunday, July 28, 2019

 We all know by now that the president, probably pissed off because Rep. Elijah Cummings is going after some shady shit Ivanka Trump & her geek husband did, went full-bore fascist on the city of Baltimore. None of this is arguable, so don't bother. Even if you agree with his statements, it's still fascist. Just deal with it.



 Now. I've never been to Baltimore. All I know about the town is what I know from Homicide: Life On The Streets (book & television show), The Wire, a former co-worker, & my friend Rodney from The Glenmont Popes. I have lived in or near four noteworthy cities (Memphis, Birmingham, New Orleans & Athens/Atlanta) for over 20 years, at least. I can honestly say I've seen the good & at least the not-so-good-to-the-flat-out-bad in all of them.

 I know Baltimore has it's problems, but I also know it is not & cannot be defined by those problems alone. It's got to be like New Orleans or Memphis, just a place where cultures where slammed together just for mere survival. Any town that produced Edgar Allen Poe can't be all bad.

 Furthermore, I grew up in an unincorporated community in rural Northeast Mississippi with a population of less than 100, in a county that had always been struggling financially but was Southern to the bone, the good & definitely the bad. It's not all vile rednecks. It's room. It's quiet. It's calm. There's something to that.

 But it can also be an awful goddamn hellhole of a place to grow up in for even white boys, that sort of mentality that infects any sort of less-than-wealthy community of human beings, the poor bastards. I'm not going into detail because, goddammit, I lived it & there's plenty of people who're willing to recall that shit when I am decidedly not. God help someone who wasn't a relatively middle-class or higher white boy.

 When I took my recent trip, I intentionally wandered, almost going out of my way to take the longest, most meandering journey from Point A to Point Be. I drove through San Francisco & Portland, weird hipster towns in California & Colorado that look expensive as hell, miles & miles & miles & miles of absolutely nothing through Oklahoma & Kansas, pretty much the same through Arizona & New Mexico except broken up by these little grey-brown towns with a post office, a Dollar Store & a bunch of empty storefronts, & Las Vegas. I saw a lot & had my consciousness expanded more than once.

 I think I can safely say, based on my experience alone, that there's very little difference between urban, rural, small town, & suburban groupings of human beings, & if there is, it's because there's something to number of people in a certain amount of space influences their speed through existence. You may scoff, but I feel pretty confident in this judgement & take no shame from it. It's not a hill worth dying on, though, so don't bother.

 So, the country is not better than the city & the city is not better than the country. If you see shit, it's because you're the asshole & you should fuck back off to wherever it was where you weren't the asshole, shut your damn mouth & leave people alone.