Sometimes, the writing on the wall isn’t as nice as we’d like it to be. We’re surrounded by barely-above-subsistence-level farmers in the desert. There are lots of nice theories and bits of technology out there that would enable them to produce more, but it doesn’t seem to be a high priority for their higher levels of government, and not a lot of the farmers themselves are particularly interested either. So we have to let our American fixation with progress go by the wayside. The people don’t want to change everything about their lives and their world to become Iowa. They would like for the US government (or any government) to come by and hand them large stacks of cash. Absent that, they’d really rather just sit around and be barely-above-subsistence-level farmers in a country with a sufficient social safety net that they won’t starve in bad years.Read the whole thing. You won't be sorry.
And, at the end of the day, that’s probably about all they’re going to get. Not everybody gets to live in Iowa. Not everybody wants to. And even if you’d like to live in Iowa, you won’t get to if you don’t pack up and move your ass to Iowa. Metaphorically, of course.
Books. Bikes. Boomsticks.
“I only regret that I have but one face to palm for my country.”
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Not everybody wants to move to Iowa.
An absolutely fantastic, very insightful post from everybody's favorite Civil Affairs troopie, Abby:
Something about leading horses to water comes to mind.
ReplyDeleteJust finished reading a history of the "The Great war in Africa" and 80+ years later the racism is funny (in jeez, guys, grow a brain way)...until you realize that _some_ of it isn't prejudice - it's postjudice.
Good stuff, Tam.
ReplyDeleteLetting go is hard to do.
ReplyDeleteIn order to get them to move to Iowa you somehow have to get them to build themselves an Iowamobile - from the ground up, each threaded nut and hand-cut bolt, the bent re-bar frame and the plush goathair stuffed upholstery. It's missionary work without the church.
You know, post-communist Eastern Europe comes to mind here too - once the people have been intellectually neutered, then how can they reclaim values that they've never had?
ReplyDeleteAs a result, everyone wants to get punked out and nurse on Uncle Sugar's Stimulus Package.
I lived in Iowa for 22 years of my adult life, and 5 in Nebraska… its not that bad… could be worse, I could live in Berkley California
ReplyDeleteAlso on the up side if you are an outdoors sports person, into hunting and fishing.. Iowa has a very excellent Pheasant population, Deer season started Dec 6th, The first week of deer is an unofficial holiday. People go missing during dear season ,not showing up for work, highs school and college because they were “sick”. If you are ever interested in a fishing vacation Storm lake IA has a lake that has a great population of Bass, walleye, catfish, and many others. I personally have caught a 36” northern out of the lake when I was 15. Large walleye and catfish are quite common.
ReplyDeleteDown side, Iowa is a may issue state (currently being challenged in the courts), at the discursions of the local sheriff. It s also not a machinegun state, can’t legally own one.
ReplyDeleteNebraska on the other hand is a must issue state, and it’s a machinegun state, you can legally possess full auto weapons.
A blogger in Civil Affairs? Cool! I have a son in the 96th, so I'll be checking out this blog on a regular basis now.
ReplyDeleteTokarev
Don't come to Iowa unless you agree to force a liberal to move anywhere else. No jobs, nothing to do, no "culture", all we eat is meatloaf and potatoes, no huge herds of deer trampling acres of corn, or pheasants getting eaten by coyotes. Absolutely no reason for anyone to come here - except for that replace a liberal thing. We're getting sadly more blue.
ReplyDelete