WHICH CAME FIRST, THE WRITING OR THE CRAZY: It occurs to me that, for a guy who revels so much in his contradictions, inconsistencies, and quirks...the fact that I split my high school years between blue-collar Hamilton, OH and blue-blood Grosse Pointe, MI was manna from heaven.
On a related note, I was engaging in a friendly argument with one of my favorite guys in my office. He was lambasting my vote for Bush 43, telling me that I'm in bed with racists and homophobes and all manner of bad things. Meanwhile, Mr. Liberal and his wife and kids recently moved up to Wilmette, on Chicago's tony north shore. (Me and mine still live downtown in the Bucktown neighborhood, still a very diverse zip code.)
I shut him down with something like this:
"How many minorities live on your block? How many gay people do you count among your close friends? What kind of socioeconomic diversity will your kids grow up with?"
Granted, I've got a hardcore bully pulpit on all these issues. Our block mixes white, brown, yellow, and black, in many shades and combinations. Our closest friends on the block are a gay couple. And mixed in between million-dollar homes are inexpensive rentals and long-standing homesteaders who have no mortage, not to mention next to no income. Diverse.
I did not mention the fact that I've gazed longingly at North Shore real estate on more than one occasion. Of course I also left out the fact that I think I could move back to Hamilton, OH, buy a simple house, and rejoin the swim club I grew up at.
I think of myself as a very private person, someone who likes to be alone. I said that to a neighbor at the park the other night and she said, "I think you're the most social person I know."
No wonder I can't figure out what I want to do. Neither my heart nor my head fit through any available pigeonholes. No template can hold me! Ah, mess that is my psyche, canst thou find no purchase in this worldly firmament? Why dost thou torment me? Etc.
10.10.2005
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5 comments:
I know you do!
that is pretty damned brilliant of you as a response to mr. north shore. though there are suburbs of the north shore that are extremely nice and also extremely diverse on all levels, i would have to say wilmette ain't one of them.
Scott, it was at about your age that I figured out that I was a very social person, but one who values a lot of privacy and also loves to be by myself. Looks like the apple didn't fall too far from the tree. And, I was very comfortable in both Hamilton, Oh. and Grosse Pointe, Mi., Go where life takes you and find the best in each day!
I can't tell you how much I understand your position (although I'll also argue that the closest neighborhood friend=gay couple carries far more weight than your zip code(I know plenty of racist morons who live in 60647). One of my biggest dilemnas has been accepting that I left behind a true demographic melting pot for a neighborhood where essentially everyone is rich, white and basically set for life.
I think also that this is the biggest difference between you and I. While we can argue the national security card, in many ways our fiscal policies are similar. I draw my political line strongly on the basis of live and let live and our 43rd president and his cohorts are diametrically opposed to that. While I think that Bush is abad president on most policy levels, it is his tendency to tell me and my family how to live our lives that most distresses me.
I'm done defending Bush. I voted for him, and I stand by that vote, given the decision that was in front of me.
Now I'm looking forward to seeing who's in the next batch of candidates. I'm not inclined to vote for Hillary, so I hope the Dems will go in another direction. I'll happily vote for either McCain or Giuliani at this point, although I say that knowing very little about them beyond their public personas.
Mom, yep, I think we do have that in common. That and the inability to be a passenger on someone else's meeting/company/committee, etc. If we're in the room, we have a hard time not grabbing the conch, so to speak.
Thanks, P!
By the way, my "bully pulpit" on the diversity thing is just for fun. I'd have no problem moving to Wilmette, and I don't think anyone should. But if someone who lives in a cloistered setting like that wants to go up against me on tolerance and diversity, well, I'll take the open lane and slam the ball down anyday.
It reminds me of the time when I knew that some of the Dems where talking out of both side of their butt, when more than one of my good friends tried to assert that Powell and Rice were "not really black." Har har! Phooey! Can't have it all ways.
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