525,600 minutes - how do you measure, measure a year? In daylights, in sunsets, in midnights, in cups of coffee. In inches, in miles, in laughter, in strife. In 525,600 minutes - how do you measure a year in the life?"
Sorry, I like that song. I have not seen “Rent” though. I never caught the play since I live in a cultural hell hole and I haven’t seen the movie, because musicals are generally annoying to straight people, especially movie adaptations. Although if the guys from “South Park” fully developed “Lease”, I’d be all about seeing that. The sentiment is a good one though. A year comes and goes before you even realize it. A year ago, I had thanksgiving with my sister’s husband’s family. I was thrilled to have someone to go that was “family” but it didn’t feel much like family since I barely knew most of the people there. This year I had turkey with the people that will probably be my in-laws. It was nice to see their family together and measure the parallels to the family structure I once had. I have three siblings just like she does, but my own family has scattered to their spouse’s family gatherings and Australia and death has claimed our matriarchs.
So this year I was taken under the wing of another family. Aside from a very scary return flight, I enjoyed New England immensely. It was cold and gray and strangers were not overly friendly, but the flip side is the people up north are for the most part, not functionally retarded. Even their poor could speak proper English and read. I can not say the same for the south. I have always had a conflicted relationship with this place and getting away from it makes me realize how much there is to hate. If you’ve never been here, then I can tell you it isn’t as comically redneck as television would have you believe (except, of course, for the “E True Hollywood Story of Anna Nicole Smith”, that’s pretty accurate.)
I was born and raised here. You can use the argument that Florida isn’t the “real” south. Pull out a map and you’ll quickly see differently. The further you get from the ocean, the more neck it gets. Yet somehow I managed to be fairly educated and articulate with a southern education. So it can be done. I’d like to think my family and friends fall into this category as well. Unfortunately, it is probably in spit of the way the south functions and not because of it that explains how the people I know and love came to be the way they are. I’d miss my friends and family, but 9 months of summer does not appeal to me anymore and as for the myth that it is always sunny here, a quick visit to weather.com should show you how big a misnomer the “sunshine state” really is.
Sorry, I like that song. I have not seen “Rent” though. I never caught the play since I live in a cultural hell hole and I haven’t seen the movie, because musicals are generally annoying to straight people, especially movie adaptations. Although if the guys from “South Park” fully developed “Lease”, I’d be all about seeing that. The sentiment is a good one though. A year comes and goes before you even realize it. A year ago, I had thanksgiving with my sister’s husband’s family. I was thrilled to have someone to go that was “family” but it didn’t feel much like family since I barely knew most of the people there. This year I had turkey with the people that will probably be my in-laws. It was nice to see their family together and measure the parallels to the family structure I once had. I have three siblings just like she does, but my own family has scattered to their spouse’s family gatherings and Australia and death has claimed our matriarchs.
So this year I was taken under the wing of another family. Aside from a very scary return flight, I enjoyed New England immensely. It was cold and gray and strangers were not overly friendly, but the flip side is the people up north are for the most part, not functionally retarded. Even their poor could speak proper English and read. I can not say the same for the south. I have always had a conflicted relationship with this place and getting away from it makes me realize how much there is to hate. If you’ve never been here, then I can tell you it isn’t as comically redneck as television would have you believe (except, of course, for the “E True Hollywood Story of Anna Nicole Smith”, that’s pretty accurate.)
I was born and raised here. You can use the argument that Florida isn’t the “real” south. Pull out a map and you’ll quickly see differently. The further you get from the ocean, the more neck it gets. Yet somehow I managed to be fairly educated and articulate with a southern education. So it can be done. I’d like to think my family and friends fall into this category as well. Unfortunately, it is probably in spit of the way the south functions and not because of it that explains how the people I know and love came to be the way they are. I’d miss my friends and family, but 9 months of summer does not appeal to me anymore and as for the myth that it is always sunny here, a quick visit to weather.com should show you how big a misnomer the “sunshine state” really is.
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