After nearly a week in the other swamp of the Southern Landmass.
Not as markedly different a world as it was during the lockdowns, but, in a way, refreshing getting away from the Beltway Swamp.
Some discussion of future plans. These aren’t easy discussions; but, it is somewhat comforting that guideposts are better set.
There are some similarities to Hillbilly Elegy, which I did just finish listening to, but the realities aren’t the same with my family, and my parents’ upbringing in Mississippi. (And I reflexively anticipate preening that I listened to it…..but I am nearly fucking blind….not that that matters in the least. I’m supposed to just sit on the public dole and vote for the Party of President Biden’s friend, Jim Eastland, until I die…)
Few people dictating how people should behave live really don’t have any connection to life outside affluent areas.
One of the things I was dealing with the past couple of days was something that wouldn’t even be a question in a DC suburb. The subdivision looks vaguely like something you’d see anywhere near one of the major East Coast metro areas. There’s a tool used to build a business, and it’s slightly unsightly. Can’t have that in our pristine neighborhood that was a swamp four years ago.
I could attribute it to happenstance that I’ve been listening to an awful lot of Bill Cunningham lately.
I am not terribly familiar with Cincinnati, but I think I have a lot more in common with them than the people who’ve been ensconced in the major metro areas for their entire lives.
“Where’d you go to school?”
“CNU.”
“What’s that?”
Even in Virginia, I get that a lot. Our most notable alumnus is probably the guy who came up with XKCD.
Though I was definitely experiencing some pretty significant effects of my condition when I was an ROTC cadet there, I was completely out-of-place amongst the cadets from William and Mary. I remember being on an FTX at Ft. AP Hill where they were discussing the boarding schools they’d attended.
I went to three high schools, graduating from Menchville. Bad Newz repruhshent. (Yes, I did see Michael Vick play high school football after I’d graduated.)
But I really find myself recoiling from the prescriptive attitudes that seem to permeate. We are the experts. We are THE SCIENCE. Thou shalt not do anything we don’t like. Unless, of course, it allows us to continue paying less for the behemoth of government we’ve created.
But do I see Vance as an Ivy Leaguer? Not so much. I see him as what he became to get out of Southern Ohio/Kentucky — A Marine.
That would probably draw more derision from the scolding class than anything else. Why would you go do that when you can party for years on someone else’s dime?
Apologies, naturally, for the disjointedness here. You can blame MS brain fog, but I’m also juggling back-and-forth among several foci.
So, back to the discussion on The Fifth Column Substack. And the overwhelming desire for Cincinnati Chili for dinner has subsided.
Do I agree with Senator Vance’s (and Donald Trump’s) fixes?
Um.
No.
As I wrote in a recent entry, I’m still kind of the you-broke-it-you-bought-it mindset. And there probably won’t even be a Libertarian on the Virginia ballot.
The only thing I’m looking forward to in November is being able to cast a ballot for the Swabbie pilot running against Antifa Dad.