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What I wouldn't give for a front porch!

Okay, I was pretty inflamed and was gonna write a
pretty pointed post that would probably get me into a
bit of trouble.  Then I read the post by the guy with
the big blue letters and thought, naah...let him be
the bad guy.  SO, I'll just say these few little
things, get them off my chest, and go drink my Big Red
(a drink I came to love while growing up in
south-central Indiana.)

Every state in our fair Union has cities.  They also
have rural areas.  With me so far?...  There isn't a
rat's butt worth of difference between rural folks in
Indiana, rural folks in Kentucky, and rural folks in
Colorado, California or Connecticut (other than the
accents.)  Folks is folks.  Rural folks on the average
are less educated than urban folks.  THIS DOES NOT
MEAN THEY ARE STUPID AND UNEDUCATED.  There is just a
smaller percentage of people with any graduate level
work under their belt.  Rural folks typically are more
prone to enjoy "country" types of things: Auto racing
over horse racing, country music over opera, country
blue kitchens with farm animal decor over a stark
black/white/silver decor, Chuck Norris and Kid Rock
over Michael J. Fox and Over the Rhine.  They are also
more likely to possess conservative values and morals.
 They are much more family oriented than urban folks. 
Their reasons for working have more to do with
providing for their families and fulfilling their
mandate to "work the land" than with buying a Ford
Explorer or a country club membership.  When they see
you at Wal-Mart, they know you and stop to chat for a
while.  If they don't know you, they say "hey" anyway.
 They know how to tune a car engine and repair their
own garbage disposal.  They know quite a bit about
seasons, weather patterns and what's going on with all
those stars in the sky.  Fourth of July to them is an
opportunity to collect with friends and neighbors to
swap stories and homemade pies, not to get away and go
to Gatlinburgh.  They have a great sense of history,
not because they learned it from a book as much as
because they very much feel they are a part of it. 
They know how to bake the perfect loaf of bread or
build the perfect barn.  They aren't dependant upon
high priced merchants for those things.  They may not
all be whizzes at a computer, but when they finally
get one they are extremely grateful to be fortunate
enough to have one.  They are typically too busy being
thankful for what they have to spend a lot of time
being bitter or envious over what they don't have. 
They don't feel as if much is owed to them.  If they
want something, they work for it.
This is my family.  Simple, plain, often charming and
maybe a little off the beaten path.  Am I - the only
college grad out of 100 first cousins, the one that
lives in the city, the "smart, artistic" one - in any
way ashamed of them.  NOT ON YOUR LIFE!  That would
make me the fool.  Not only because they are who I am,
but also because I recognize their immense value to me
and the world.
Yeah, I like Over the Rhine; I know the difference
between Dar Willams and Lucinda Williams; I can tell a
Monet from a Mapplethorpe; I can point out every
"ligitimate" coffee shop in the city; I think Ayn Rand
is a much better writer than John Grisham; I have
friends with goatess, turtle-necks, and little wire
rimmed glasses; I much prefer soccer over any kind of
racing.  But I also recognize the fact that my father
- only a high school education;doesn't even know who
Kevin Spacey is;only reads biographies, histories, and
commentaries; spends his retirement preaching at a
tiny little church in the middle of Nowhere, Kentucky;
can't understand why anybody would want to live
anywhere where you can't have a garden; still wears a
Member's Only jacket; his favorite song always has
been and always will be 'Amazing Grace' - I recognize
the fact that this man is the wisest man in the world.
You can have your smugness, your hipness, your
pretentious "gee aren't I educated" platitudes.  I'll
take my father's brand of worth anyday.

stuck in the city...

Kelvin

=====
"I never much liked flying,
The job requires trying;
The hard part's avoiding buildings and concrete."
              -- Ellis Paul

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