Passing For News

I was watching evening television and the news 'teaser' came on here in Atlanta. The big 'teaser' for tonight to get me to watch the late news was the same story I read on Yahoo this afternoon! "Jobs that pay $40/ hour." Really?? That’s ALL that’s going on down here?
Let me see if I can help.
How about the murdering professor who is still on the loose and the cops have no leads? Or what about the most recent ‘scare’ over the Swine Flu? Even covering the Falcons draft choices might be better than reading me the headlines from Yahoo this afternoon!!
Oh well… The South is still stuck in ‘small town’ mentality when the ‘big city’ has moved in.
Up in New York the stories might easily have been lost in all the other killings of the day. Kings County Hospital in Brooklyn is one of the best gunshot trauma centers in the world because they deal with more gunshots than anyone in the world – including war zones. So, another killing could easily be overlooked as hohum. The flu might be a story in the second hour since most of the known cases of the flu in this country are centered in St. Francis High School in Queens. It’s a HUGE high school right off the Long Island Expressway in Queens where any afternoon thousands of kids can be seen standing around looking for a ride, so most people who drive the LIE to go home know where it is. So, it probably would not be a lost story. HERE, however, the big story is the $40/ hour jobs. I guess unemployment in the South has taken precedent over killings or the flu!!
Just a thought to the local news people, rethink your strategy.

Sitting In Traffic

One of the things about the South I find the most… interesting… is the ability of Southerners to sit in traffic. It’s eerie. They don’t seem to mind. It’s like they accept that traffic is what it is and they’re good with it. Every once in awhile you’ll see where one of them finally cooks off and has a case of ‘road rage,’ but for the most part they seem perfectly willing to sit in traffic and accept that this is the way it is.
I hate to point this out, but a lot of the problem with the traffic situation – at least in Atlanta – has been brought on by the lack of interest by the local governments in timing out the stoplights. Or maybe they know that and don’t care.
Let me lay this out and see if it makes sense to any of YOU. In the greater Atlanta area there is a problem with jurisdictions overlapping. Counties run into each other and when roads cross county lines the next county refuses to cooperate with the previous county. They don’t want to work with their neighbors. Uh… that doesn’t help those of us who have to drive on those roads. What we need is for the counties to work together, barring that we need the state to get in there and get the counties to do their jobs. Time out those lights! Instead of there being demand lights at every neighborhood, have a computer override the demands and move us along. My KIDS were doing that 20 years ago with a Sim City game they were playing on the computer. Getting the traffic flowing – particularly with all the bellyaching they do about saving gas and having smaller carbon footprints – should be a top priority.

But it’s not.

So what we have are a bunch of very polite people sitting in traffic waiting to lose their minds. I’m convinced there must be something in the water down here that allows these people to be able to sit in this kind of unnecessary traffic every day and not lose it. Wow…

NASCAR South

I came to the South from New York. Not upstate, but NYC!!
I got to NYC from Cincinnati via Los Angeles. Then there were short stays in Chicago, Boston, Cleveland, Buffalo and Toronto. As you can see, even though I grew up in rural Cincinnati, I spent a lot of years in BIG cities in the North – with 20 in The Big Apple. Migrating South has been an eye-opening experience for me – to say the least.
I don’t think people in New York City understand that people outside their ‘perfect Mecca’ (and I use that term in the silliest possible context) are pretty much the same as they are, but with a different point of view. Southerners grow up where there are actual trees and grass rather than pictures of it that you can visit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art or Central Park where they imported grass and trees for people to use as cover for muggings. Having that ‘wide open’ mentality gives people in the South a whole different take on the world.
A lot of my experiences so far are centered around Atlanta – which is rapidly becoming the New York of the South in the good AND the bad ways. At the same time, I get out to Alabama, the Carolinas, Tennessee and Florida on a regular basis, so I have a pretty broad base of experiences here to draw on.
Let’s start with driving – just for kicks. Bear in mind I love people from both the North AND the South, so I’m NOT targeting anyone!!! I just think the comparisons are hilarious and I want to share my take on them with you.
Southerners are speeders when they drive. I think it’s an American hobby to see how fast you can go for how far without getting caught, but Southerners are taking it to an artform. In the South they think they’re either NASCAR drivers or are auditioning to BE NASCAR drivers. And the Interstates of the South are good training grounds for that aspiration. The Interstate lanes are wide and there’s not a whole lot out there until you get to Atlanta or Macon. Otherwise, almost everyone knows Georgia is the state to ‘make up time’ when you’re on your way from up north going to Florida. Georgia JUST passed a law to add extra fines for people traveling at over 85 mph in 55-70 mph zones. For Southerners that’s just another challenge. All that means is the cops are going to have to work that much harder to pull over cars traveling over 85 – and Southerners are not going to pull it over easily. Give me a break. I travel the Interstates of Georgia all the time. In zones with a posted limit of 55 I’ll be scooting along at 70 and be looking for cops at every bend in the road. What was I thinking?? That’s the Northern training coming into effect. At 70 in a 55 zone you need to be over in the ‘old lady’ lane all the way to the right. There will be drivers on your behind flashing their lights if you’re in one of the other lanes. The ‘old ladies’ will give you a nasty look as they blow by at about 100 as they race the Beemers and the SUVs trying to get up the Interstate. There are a lot of those German cars built for the Autobahn that can run at over 100 with NO problem.
I have to say, though, as good as these guys in the South are they need to take their talents up to NYC and see how good they REALLY are. You see, there’s a lot more people on the Interstates and Parkways up there, they’re ALL moving at 80-100 mph (you don’t have a choice) and they’re inches apart – a lot like NASCAR drivers REALLY drive on the tracks. One mistake and cars pile up for miles.
Ah, but there’s more. You see, in NYC the Interstates and Parkways are NOT the wide roads of the South. The lanes on the Interstates are a lot NARROWER up there!! It takes REAL talent and nerves to drive on THOSE roads!! AND to do it with people who have the ‘New York Attitude!’ So if you want to test your talents as a driver, go up to The Big Apple and give those roads a go!! Just be warned, the drivers up there are used to driving on those narrow roads and they carry a loaded finger!!