Small Town USA: the Good the Bad and the Ugly

[David In Indy]

Dang, David...ya'll had GOOD prizes!!

we got candy and money...

Well, my aunt's dog just had puppies and they were trying to give them away. Later I found out my aunt and uncle discussed it with mom and dad ahead of time, and they all made sure I found the egg. 

[injest]

she is fine David...living in Houston now...

Housing is a funny thing, we lived in shotgun shacks and old houses when I was growing up....never lived in a trailer myself but a lot of my relatives do...and there are some really nice ones out there.

another aunt lived in one down in Polk County. Had a built on room and a porch built across the back of it facing a stretch of forest land as far as the eye could see. I loved that place.

Once we lived in a house so old it didn't have an indoor toilet. It did have a showerhead in a little closet that had been added onto the side of one of the bedrooms...it was lined in black tar paper and had no light in it. In fact now that I think about it..it didn't have closets at all....just that added nook

[injest]

It didn't have electricity either...I mean it was not wired for lights...the wires for the lights were stapled along the edges of the walls....painted over so many times you could hardly see them in places

[injest]

Well, my aunt's dog just had puppies and they were trying to give them away. Later I found out my aunt and uncle discussed it with mom and dad ahead of time, and they all made sure I found the egg. 

sneaky!!

[injest]

UGLY!!

don't read DAVID!!!











My cousin was murdered in an old house like that. I don't know why I thought of that...but he was at a bar and picked up a girl. Her boyfriend and her had decided to rob someone...when he got home the boyfriend broke in and killed him with a machete.

You know who has to clean that kind of scene up? the family. They had to strip the carpet up...burned all the stuff in the back yard. Driving by you would see the light on it was an ugly feeling...

[David In Indy]

UGLY!!

don't read DAVID!!!











My cousin was murdered in an old house like that. I don't know why I thought of that...but he was at a bar and picked up a girl. Her boyfriend and her had decided to rob someone...when he got home the boyfriend broke in and killed him with a machete.

You know who has to clean that kind of scene up? the family. They had to strip the carpet up...burned all the stuff in the back yard. Driving by you would see the light on it was an ugly feeling...

[Lynne]

Yes, it's not all the bucolic Andy Griffith Mayberry kinda towns. sadly...

I have an ugly story, but I will try with a good story to balance it out...

When I was in 6th grade, my best friend was a black girl named Marguerite.  I invited her over to spend the night and go rollerskating some weekend; when her mother spoke with my mother to sort out the details, and realized we were white, her mom wouldn't let her come .  I was too young to comprehend wtf was going on - the concept of reverse discrimination - and blamed myself for some imagined transgressons.

Good story:  My high school was small enough that all of the classes important to me (physics, chemistry, adv math, calculus, etc...) were all taught by an Episcopal priest, whose tireless support and encouragement  inspired me to do undergrad at the same university he attended for his DDivinity degree...so it's proof positive that one good role model providing encouragement and support can make a huge difference in a young person's life.  Not that the same sort of thing doesn't happen in larger communities, but I think people get busy and that one-on-one connection is more rare.

[injest]

! 

I TOLD you not to read that!! Jeez, you MEN! Just contrary! I shoulda said HEY DAVID READ THIS...and you would have RUN away from the story!!

MEN!

[Kelda]

Altough  rare for the rest of the world for non Jewish and  muslim men, I am very glad was born here, USA, at a time when most boys were cicumsized at birth.

I saw the old SATC episode where charlotte is dating an uncircumsized man, and she's all 'eewwww' about it!  I just can't imagine that! I don't think I know of one person in 'real life' that is circumsized. 

I remember when I was a little girl walking to town barefoot how hot the asphalt was.

one day there were a bunch of crows hanging by their feet from the trees downtown.

Everyone acted like they did not see them. I remember looking at them and feeling so sorry for the birds. I didn't understand what it meant.

I didn't know that either... the KKK are an evil evil bunch.

[Shakesthecoffecan]

Yesterday I went to -you guessed it, a funeral!- my partner's Aunt had died at 91 and he and his son, brother and nephew were among the pall bearers. I sat witht he family because I knew it would mean a lot to him. At the grave I was standing next to a gay friend of mine who works at the funeral home, someone everyone knows. One of the preechers started reading from Genisis and said "God created man in his image..." and turned right toward us and said "...and woman in his image" and I thought "This fool is gonna start something".

We went to a realitives house for the meal afterward and the realives were passing out an "Action Sheet" the same preecher had given them. It was all about how you should boycott walmart because they had joined "The Homosexual Marriage Lobby". I was worried about what he might say to his elderly aunt, but he handled it really well and I think she is more confused now than she ever was.

I have boycotted Walmart for years for various reasons, but I'm watching them.