The good, the bad and the ugly

What a long weekend it has been.  The good, the bad, and the ugly.  To be honest, it was mostly ugly.  It’s not my job to be perennially sunny, but this weekend was so ridiculous I felt my innate optimism falter.  All I did was to travel out of town to support someone I care about in an election.  And I’m glad I did, I’m so very glad I could be there for her, I just wish it had been a better experience for her. I admit there were up sides: I was able to support someone I love, one blanket is nearing completion, I saw something really inspiring in an unexpected place and we had a long sit-down with a good friend.  But …

About the election:  I am going to barely restrain myself here from slandering certain people by name who cost a person I love, respect and admire dearly by cheating in an election yesterday.  I’m ragingly pissed at what I witnessed, but still so proud of her for holding her own anyway and showing such strength in the face of an awful situation. I will just say that this election was a fine example of what can and does go wrong in democratic politics.  The reasons why these people voted for their elected leaders were more abysmally stupid and cruel than my normally optimistic sensibilities were prepared for … I am truly disappointed.  Apparently to win you must be selfish, and you must be good at throwing money at things, cheating, backstabbing, mouthing empty words and fostering the good-old-boy system.  To hell with issues, loyalty, trust and honesty.  Values clearly had taken a back seat to winning.  I know I’m biased toward her, but even without my admitted personal involvement, it was still a sad day for our political system.

And then there was the city.

The location of all this nonsense was really absurd - it was an exercise in repetitive manufactured commercialism.  My surroundings were entirely composed of tract housing and strip shopping malls.  There wasn’t a single non-chain store, and the entire area appeared to be one large planned community designed to maximize consumerism. I’ve seen this sort of thing before, but this was that concept on steroids.  There was so much sameness everywhere that I kept getting lost for lack of distinctive landmarks.  Every blade of grass was mown into submission, the landscaping was subdued and regular, and all the building colors were a matching, orderly tan and brick. Everything was designed to maximize drive time and minimize walking. I longed for color and personality and irregularity.  I longed for something that felt real, longed for the organic chaotic vibrancy of heterogeneity and mixed cultures and creativity.

I returned home with indecent haste. That was a mixed blessing, for though I love home and missed my comfortable bed and fuzzy furbeasts, I didn’t love finding that my building was burglarized for the second time in six months.

Maybe I’ll start again tomorrow.