the searbys

As we drove home (that sounds wierd) from Target and Walmart tonight I had the first realization that this is where we'll be calling home. The town, we're discovering, is driven by the university and has a definite college-town flavor. Which is great and exciting but quite different from the rural town of Lincoln, Illinois. It was interesting, though, that the most "normal" place we've been so far was the Walmart. I heard at least five different languages, saw people of all colors, classes and cultures and felt, "this is where the normal, everyday people come." It didn't feel elite and academic, like most places in Gainesville. This isn't to say that I'm not really looking forward to being part of those special places that only happen in towns like this but... I guess what I'm saying is, I never want to lose my roots. I'm a midwestern boy who likes to know that people are just people and life is lived day by day. What I learned today is that when I need to remember that there are lots of us who still have to struggle to make it, to look for bargains and buy cheap instead of gourmet, to get the knock-off brand instead of the name brand, and just generally make-do (even though sometimes we'd like to commit to an organic lifestyle or research all our products to see if the labor wage is fair and on and on and on) there is a place, take it or leave it, called Walmart where people like us go. And I like it that way.

Walmart, HA! When I was a boy we had to sit out in the rain for days waiting for a rodent to come by so we could shoot it for dinner!!!! WE DIDN'T HAVE THESE NEWFANGLED SUPERMARKETS!! What I don't understand is: In the Grapes of Wrath, why didn't they just eat the dog when he died?

-Jordan K. Parmenter I  

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