Flying Saucers Over Oz
05-17-2008, 10:25 AM
Awhile ago, I decided to take a quick detour through the nearby town of Granville. A college town, it's mostly where the more upper-class, liberal, artistic types live. It's been a couple years since I'd visited there and I wanted to see what it looked like now.
So I drove down the main road, and it's turned into Disney's freaking Main Street USA. Everything's bright and colorful, all the stores are cheerful and vapid and/or pretentious, it's so damn quaint, it borders on the terrifying. Look, if you've got an ice cream parlor with outside seating, with those little curicle-legged chairs and striped umbrellas on the tables, you're trying too hard. And if it's in between a gift card and knick-knack shop and an art gallery, that's just sick.
But really, it's just me. When I was younger, this kind of thing was what I dreamed of instead of my ordinary life, where everything seemed coated with a fine film of dirt. Now I know I wouldn't be happy there either. So I turned around, started driving, and when I passed a combination hair-salon and bait shop, I knew I was back where I belong.
So I drove down the main road, and it's turned into Disney's freaking Main Street USA. Everything's bright and colorful, all the stores are cheerful and vapid and/or pretentious, it's so damn quaint, it borders on the terrifying. Look, if you've got an ice cream parlor with outside seating, with those little curicle-legged chairs and striped umbrellas on the tables, you're trying too hard. And if it's in between a gift card and knick-knack shop and an art gallery, that's just sick.
But really, it's just me. When I was younger, this kind of thing was what I dreamed of instead of my ordinary life, where everything seemed coated with a fine film of dirt. Now I know I wouldn't be happy there either. So I turned around, started driving, and when I passed a combination hair-salon and bait shop, I knew I was back where I belong.