Road-trip Dispatches, Oregon: some think the West Coast is all lefty progressive blah blah blah. Take a trip through the Central Valley of CA or Southern OR and get back to me on that. Eating at some diner in So. OR and the *host* starts yapping about Obama and immigrants. What went through my mind: ask this young fool what the Indigenous name for that place was and the history and stories of that land, and then make a public display out of this arrogant European immigrant when he clearly could not. What I did instead: silently stare him down as I quickly checked out, not saying a word, and watching him squirm and babble in extreme, sudden discomfort. Back on the road I notice Jesus Saves signs everywhere. Later, at a rest-stop I notice homeless guys asking for help. Odd because you never see these unlucky folks at interstate rest stops. I start talking to one particularly rough looking dude (as every single good Christian walks by him as if he does not exist), he tells me you will get fined if you ask for or give money in the towns nearby. Clearly, more displays of great Christian behavior. It dawns on me that these areas (central CA, So. OR) are where live the descendants of a particularly brutal invasion - raping and pillaging and literally exterminating (which was the official policy) native peoples wherever they went, clear-cutting all the beautiful forests, mining all the beautiful mountains... today carrying on the tradition, it seems. So I give this guy some munchies I have in the car (I should have given more) and move along, up towards some sanity in Portland. One should always stop and talk to homeless folks, you will probably get more out of it then they do. So, needing a funk fix to ease my mind, I, of course, bust out Songs in The Key of Life and start driving north, suddenly remembering that in exactly 3 weeks I will be listening to brother Stevie sing this very song... listen to this lyrical bomb by the master.
Posted on: Sun, 26 Oct 2014 20:01:25 +0000
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