The last year has been the unhappiest of my life; on Monday I turn in my notice to my apartment manager.
Independence, MO is a malignant sprawl of drive-throughs, dilapidated strip-malls, megachurches, pawn shops, gaudily painted payday-loan outfits, and ubiquitous police chases. The people -- listless, overfed and television-soaked -- frankly horrify me. I'm sick of the sullen teenagers allowed to loiter in the town's sole non-Christian bookstore, the rampant obesity and the endless construction as the few remaining trees are mowed down to make room for more forgettable fast-food restaurants.
Independence is the culmination of a psychosis that goes conveniently unmentioned in the real-estate literature. It's a prison camp of colorless tract houses and chain-link fences, arguably as deadly as the nuclear bombs dropped by Harry Truman, its iconic native.
I've inhaled the fallout. Now it's time to move on.
14 comments:
Move to Berkeley. It's another planet than the one you are presently on. I think you would find it infinitely more compatible. Get out of Missouri before it's too late! 8^}
So where you going?
Get out while the gettin's good. But before you do, you should think about doing a photoblog of the worst of the desolation.
Cap'n--
Downtown Kansas City, for starters. Say what you will about it, but it doesn't have the bleak vibe of the suburbs.
Chris--
I'll post more. But you really have to experience it to understand it.
Not to intrude a metaphysical issue here, but, based on my (admittedly limited) understanding of Christianity, doesn't that bumper-sticker qualify as an expression of spiritual pride, presupposing as it does that the driver is already among the Elect? And isn't spiritual pride a "deadly sin" that disqualfies the prideful one from spiritual rewards such as the Rapture? Ergo....
I think Christianity *does* in fact preach humility and humbleness, so the sentiment behind the sticker -- "I'm so great I'm going to heaven" -- is puzzling.
Say it with me...Vancouver Island. The last, best change for humanities soul.
I've realized I live in St. Louis, I can't say anything bad about KC
Dude, do you actually LIVE in Independence? With a population of more than 100,000 and an area greater than 25 square miles, you might expand your narrow horizons beyond Noland Rd. and 39th street.
Bill--
I was never here voluntarily.
Live and learn.
Independence...home of the second coming!
I visited good ol' Independence three days ago because a friend of a friend of my wife said that there was this guy that she knows would pass ANYBODY'S car inspection and that's just what we needed.
Well, all I have to say is that it's definitely one trashy freakin' place! The only thing good about Independence is that people listen to heavy metal there.
Unfortunately, it's full of all the stupid type of metal heads that give heavy metal a bad name.
Once the unshaven toothless belly-itcher of a mechanic with a bad attitude finished our $12 inspection we were outta there!
Back in Midtown I feel a whole lot better.
Move into town and you'll be greeted by the ghetto-bird every night but during the daytime you will be that much closer to real culture. Good luck and I hope you make it outta there!
Hiya Chris--
It's not just me, then? ;-)
I handed in my notice today; I'll be somewhere downtown within two months -- the sooner the better.
If you have a masochistic streak, try living here for a year sometime.
Good riddance.
I now work in Independence, it truly is Night of the Living Dead complete with a Spiral Temple piercing the sky. The ghost of Truman bombing Hiroshima lingers in the air with crystal meth!
007--
Very well put. That fucking temple gives me the creeps.
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