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A revised Rant
Mar. 22nd, 2006 08:23 amA few days ago ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
tfcocs posted a bit of an unapologetic declaration of why she's proud to live in the North East, and be a literate, urban, public transport, metropolis loving liberal. As she pointed out, it isn't because it's the only way of life she knows, but rather, having taken a long and varied road to arrive, it is the way of life she chose. EDITED TO ADD: That post is now public and you can read it here!. If you don't know her, give her a read, drop a line and introduce yourself. You can do a lot WORSE than find yourself drawn again and again to the doors of her "Church of Common Sense!"
I should know better than to post pre-caffeinated, but it struck such a chord with me on a few things and I'm going to clean up and elaborate a bit and repost my own words here.
< rant>
Here, here!
From another woman who beat a retreat from the south, who has lived all over this god-forsaken place, who has experienced first hand the bluest blue of liberalism and the redest red of conservatism, I am proud to be an urban, literate, intellectual, geek, snob. I live and work where I don't have to worry about what car I drive, whether or not my perm is in, about putting on make-up just to go to the grocery store, or figuring my current location by calculating the trajectory of the nearest shopping mall or bowling alley.
I get really tired of people who apologize to me with pity in their eyes when I say that I take the bus. Even when I had a car I took the bus. If we don't use and support public transit it won't be there for those who really need it. It is not a hardship for me and it infuriates me that you look down on those who take public transit as lesser human beings. You then drive 3 miles out of your way in order to hit the Starbucks that has a drive-thru window...so you don't have to get out of your car on the way to work. When is the last time YOU walked even 4 blocks--and it didn't involve a mall?
I get tired of people who think I can't possibly be happy without shopping at Macys, Dillards, Neimans, Justin Roper, or Shetler's western. People who brag about how much money they spent on a "must have item." People who lecture me on how I should cut down on my grocery bill to save up because this little jacket is the "Must have" piece of clothing for the season and it will set me back $200 bucks. Oh yeah? Well I just saw 10 of your "must have" little jackets, in a variety of colors, for $50.00 EACH at Ross. Fuck you.
I get tired of people who, by way of introduction ask, 'so which Church do you go to?' and then judge my entire life past, present and future, based on my answer. If I wanted that sort of prejudicial, narrow-minded, my-shit-don't-stink-, un-Christian elitist thinking, I would have stayed in Commerce, Tx. Go back and read the bible. Read what Jesus said. READ THE FLIPPIN BEATITUDES and then see if you have the superior gall to ask me that again.
I get tired of the words: 'this is just how I was raised' used as a bald-faced excuse for the most abhorrent manners and habits such as gossip, racism, sexual abuse, discrimination and gender bias.
Give me Berkeley any day of the week. Give me access to the geographical beauty that is northern California, the culture, the museums, the BART, the bus, the concrete beneath my feet of the cities by the Bay. Give me the homeless problem, the noisy college kids, the crap flea market, the hilarious and the oh-so-left Berkeley Fringe that makes me look so outrageously sane. I choose to live here.
They can go live where ever the fuck makes them happy.
So long as they leave me alone :P
< / rant>
tfcocs posted a bit of an unapologetic declaration of why she's proud to live in the North East, and be a literate, urban, public transport, metropolis loving liberal. As she pointed out, it isn't because it's the only way of life she knows, but rather, having taken a long and varied road to arrive, it is the way of life she chose. EDITED TO ADD: That post is now public and you can read it here!. If you don't know her, give her a read, drop a line and introduce yourself. You can do a lot WORSE than find yourself drawn again and again to the doors of her "Church of Common Sense!"I should know better than to post pre-caffeinated, but it struck such a chord with me on a few things and I'm going to clean up and elaborate a bit and repost my own words here.
< rant>
Here, here!
From another woman who beat a retreat from the south, who has lived all over this god-forsaken place, who has experienced first hand the bluest blue of liberalism and the redest red of conservatism, I am proud to be an urban, literate, intellectual, geek, snob. I live and work where I don't have to worry about what car I drive, whether or not my perm is in, about putting on make-up just to go to the grocery store, or figuring my current location by calculating the trajectory of the nearest shopping mall or bowling alley.
I get really tired of people who apologize to me with pity in their eyes when I say that I take the bus. Even when I had a car I took the bus. If we don't use and support public transit it won't be there for those who really need it. It is not a hardship for me and it infuriates me that you look down on those who take public transit as lesser human beings. You then drive 3 miles out of your way in order to hit the Starbucks that has a drive-thru window...so you don't have to get out of your car on the way to work. When is the last time YOU walked even 4 blocks--and it didn't involve a mall?
I get tired of people who think I can't possibly be happy without shopping at Macys, Dillards, Neimans, Justin Roper, or Shetler's western. People who brag about how much money they spent on a "must have item." People who lecture me on how I should cut down on my grocery bill to save up because this little jacket is the "Must have" piece of clothing for the season and it will set me back $200 bucks. Oh yeah? Well I just saw 10 of your "must have" little jackets, in a variety of colors, for $50.00 EACH at Ross. Fuck you.
I get tired of people who, by way of introduction ask, 'so which Church do you go to?' and then judge my entire life past, present and future, based on my answer. If I wanted that sort of prejudicial, narrow-minded, my-shit-don't-stink-, un-Christian elitist thinking, I would have stayed in Commerce, Tx. Go back and read the bible. Read what Jesus said. READ THE FLIPPIN BEATITUDES and then see if you have the superior gall to ask me that again.
I get tired of the words: 'this is just how I was raised' used as a bald-faced excuse for the most abhorrent manners and habits such as gossip, racism, sexual abuse, discrimination and gender bias.
Give me Berkeley any day of the week. Give me access to the geographical beauty that is northern California, the culture, the museums, the BART, the bus, the concrete beneath my feet of the cities by the Bay. Give me the homeless problem, the noisy college kids, the crap flea market, the hilarious and the oh-so-left Berkeley Fringe that makes me look so outrageously sane. I choose to live here.
They can go live where ever the fuck makes them happy.
So long as they leave me alone :P
< / rant>
