One question that I'm trying to answer is "Why on earth did 100% of New York City vote for Obama?" Everyone? Really? In the rest of the country, half of everyone I know and love voted for McCain, but something else occurred in NYC. Unquestioned unanimity. And it wasn't just New York; urban centers everywhere were the same story.
In this human context, everything is provided. Every service is an arm's length away. And people like it that way. It becomes normal. The concept of the Great American Man, the Rugged Individual, seems weird and confusing. I ask if anyone has clippers to buzz my hair, and people crinkle their brows. "Why don't you go to a barber?" they ask, dumbfounded. I invite people over for homemade pizza, and people push it around their plates, not sure if they can trust it. "I just didn't know it was possible to make pizza at home..." says Phil, deliberating over some cheese and green pepper.
"There's no way you can walk from here to there," warns Doug. "It'll take like thirty minutes! AND it might rain!"
Joe gets up in the morning. He gets his news. He gets a bacon-egg-n-cheese-on-a-roll. He takes the L-train to work. He comes home and drinks with friends and goes back to sleep. He's that cog. Somebody gets him his food. Somebody drives the transport. Somebody sweeps the streets. Somebody signs the check. Somebody brews the beer. He doesn't even think about those people, even think about the commute or the job. He just dreams about his artwork, which he's hoping to get into a gallery show someday.
This is the city. These people are energetic, talkative, opinionated. They eat chips and salsa, rhyme, talk about books, movies, music. They have cool shoes. But "killing my own deer so that I feel connected to the land" sounds like a joke from a West Village stand-up comic.
To be continued...
3 comments:
Are you on the right ranting about the skinny condom thingies? Or are you preparing to tear into the right from your colorado/argentino leftist side?
Roddy, Liked your "rantings". Even some of your right friends would smile. They might wonder why your are doing research in the big city...it's all nature...dad
roddy, second sonds rule!!! kick big city butt take names later. if rain is for umbrellas and rivers for bridges are deer made for headlights? or, for shooting on a ditch near the continental divide by a first son and his dad? you tell me! dougo remember, work hard, play hard, keep your bowels open and write your mother once a month. nothing else is mandatory.
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