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Posted August 12, 2009
State Fair time! You've got two choices in life. Love it or hate it. Be happy or be miserable. You decide, no one else gives a rat’s ass (with the possible exception of your mother, and those around you who you will make miserable too, if that is your choice. Oh, and please pardon the vernacular.). When I moved to Chicago over 30 years ago I knew I would hate living in a big city, and so I did. I was miserable until I got over my self-generated conviction that I hated living in a big city. Letting that thought go, I was able to embrace Chicago, explore life in the city, and come to love this, the greatest city on Earth. When I lived in Texas I knew many transplanted Easterners that hated Texas. But I embraced the food, the culture, and loved it. Those that could not embrace it were miserable. Their choice. Bad choice. As an apprentice leatherworker I was forced to listen to country music all day, every day as we worked and sweated in the summer heat of Durham, NC. Slowly I began to know the songs, the singers, to appreciate the stories being told in song, and the rich history of the individual artists, the music and the traditions. I came to love country music, once I was able to listen and give up hating it and rejecting it. It is truly wonderful, like Russian literature, and an acquired taste that will reward the aquiring. Give it a chance, you may come to love it, too. As a Dad, driving with my kids, I have been forced to listen to Hip Hop and Rap, an anathema to middle age white males like moi, and to my astonishment, I have come to love it. It contains wonderful stories, humor, rhythm, innovative sound - simply amazing. Like anything and everything else, much is mediocre, a bit is pure drek, and some of the music is truly inspired. It is probably the most innovative and interesting music genre today. We just have to get out of our own way - to sit back and judge is to distance and estrange ourselves from a musical genre, or a religion, or a race of people, or family, friends, coworkers and acquaintances. To estrange ourselves leads to unhappiness. An unhappy sense of ‘better than thou,’ but lonely. So it is State Fair time in Wisconsin. "Ohhhh, how boring," I often hear people say. Get over it. Get up, get out, and go to the fair. I guarantee you will love it, or your money back. (Please note small print: the foregoing is an expression, and not a real guarantee to return any portion of your expenses related to travel or attendance at the WI or any other State Fair. Void in some states, please check local regulations, and batteries not included. Some assembly may be required.)
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