Grosse Pointe, MI - bastion of conservatism
After a rather long absence, I am pleased to announce that I finally finished packing all of my stuff, the movers came to take it, I made it back to my parents' place in Grosse Pointe, Michigan on the evening of the 17th, and the furniture should be shipped to NYC by the 23rd. We'll see if they can get the piano up.
Grosse Pointe never ceases to amaze me. As much as I hated it in high school, where the only things to do were to sit in chain coffee shops or hang out in people's basements, that's how much I love it today.
Yeah - I'm a grump. I hate crowds, high school kids, political correctness, artsy-fartsyness and unkempt lawns. I love conservatives, people who still celebrate Christmas in public, old farts, depends, tiny shopping districts, and lovely houses with lovely lawns. Kercheval, the main shopping street in Grosse Pointe is renamed 'Christmas Street' for the holidays. That makes me warm and fuzzy. As I cruise down the boulevard, I cruise at 5 mph, stuck behind a tiny, shriveled little old lady driving a big Lincoln Continental and wearing tons of jewelry. That normally makes me angry, but since I don't have anywhere to go, that again is warm and fuzzy.
Grosse Pointe is nice, serene, and somehow unreal. Of course, there's still high school kids running around, but I just avoid them. If they come near me, I'll just hit them with my handbag, or start muttering about how 'in my day we weren't allowed to run around in packs, like little hooligans.' But overall, Grosse Pointe is part of a dying archetypal breed of American suburbia, one filled with cocktail parties, chain-smokers, chicken salads, and roast beef. It's a land where until the late 1970s, minorities were only found as help, and whose diversification is creeping along at a ridiculously slow pace.
I love being home. For ten days or so. Then I'm ready to head back to the real world, refreshed by the oasis of OLD republicanism (not neoconservatism) that Grosse Pointe offers. And Grosse Pointe is changing - of the five Grosse Pointes, the one we live in, Grosse Pointe Park, voted for Kerry in the last election. This would have been unthinkable a mere 10 years ago. So I guess Grosse Pointe is slipping.
Now I'm going to get back to my home activities - namely reading books and playing video games. Did I mention how much I love Grosse Pointe? Yeah, I don't really leave the house much. It's a little too weird out there.
Grosse Pointe never ceases to amaze me. As much as I hated it in high school, where the only things to do were to sit in chain coffee shops or hang out in people's basements, that's how much I love it today.
Yeah - I'm a grump. I hate crowds, high school kids, political correctness, artsy-fartsyness and unkempt lawns. I love conservatives, people who still celebrate Christmas in public, old farts, depends, tiny shopping districts, and lovely houses with lovely lawns. Kercheval, the main shopping street in Grosse Pointe is renamed 'Christmas Street' for the holidays. That makes me warm and fuzzy. As I cruise down the boulevard, I cruise at 5 mph, stuck behind a tiny, shriveled little old lady driving a big Lincoln Continental and wearing tons of jewelry. That normally makes me angry, but since I don't have anywhere to go, that again is warm and fuzzy.
Grosse Pointe is nice, serene, and somehow unreal. Of course, there's still high school kids running around, but I just avoid them. If they come near me, I'll just hit them with my handbag, or start muttering about how 'in my day we weren't allowed to run around in packs, like little hooligans.' But overall, Grosse Pointe is part of a dying archetypal breed of American suburbia, one filled with cocktail parties, chain-smokers, chicken salads, and roast beef. It's a land where until the late 1970s, minorities were only found as help, and whose diversification is creeping along at a ridiculously slow pace.
I love being home. For ten days or so. Then I'm ready to head back to the real world, refreshed by the oasis of OLD republicanism (not neoconservatism) that Grosse Pointe offers. And Grosse Pointe is changing - of the five Grosse Pointes, the one we live in, Grosse Pointe Park, voted for Kerry in the last election. This would have been unthinkable a mere 10 years ago. So I guess Grosse Pointe is slipping.
Now I'm going to get back to my home activities - namely reading books and playing video games. Did I mention how much I love Grosse Pointe? Yeah, I don't really leave the house much. It's a little too weird out there.
posted by Nixie at 3:39 PM
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