What Are We Gonna Do With All This Trash?: October 2010

October 16, 2010

Silent Majority? (Fingers Crossed)

I've been under a self-imposed blog-silence for awhile now--mainly because I've got myself worked up into a big ball of frightened confusion about the upcoming November elections, and the state of U.S. politics in general (and I'm also starting to gather intel on what a 'best music of 2010' list might look like.. aww yeah).

So, I hate to admit it, but the Tea Party scares me (as do Halloween costume stores, but that's another story). Now, it is possible that all Tea Party supporters are not racist xeno-homo-phobe evangelicals, but racist xenophobic shit like this is not good evidence of that theory...

I thought white tea was supposed to be healthy, soft, subtle, and not at all bitter because it is picked when it's young?

And I'm not scared because I didn't think there were soooo many people in America who held these types of worldviews--there are and they do, move along--it's just that I don't think they've ever been so politically motivated and assembled (but I am a shitty political historian so you might want to check). I must've underestimated the level of bat-guano craziness one, singular black (w/ white mom, mind you) president could cause in people. I am cautiously pessimistic that there is a silent majority of Americans out there that get offended and angry when people say they want to "take our country back," and that Tea Party wins on election day won't be as significant as it appears. And if there is significant Tea Party influence in the House and Senate after November, the Left's rebuttal is going to have to be a whole lot more combative (and effective, and smart, and not at all resembling a publicity stunt) than walking out on Bill O'Reilly on "The View".

A History Of Trash

Trash, at first, was a pretty cool guy. You know, he’d come over with some beers, and you’d hang out and have a couple of laughs. Maybe Trash brought some weed with him, and you guys tried to sync up Dark Side Of The Moon with The Wizard Of Oz until you remembered you lost your VHS copy of that movie sometime in college and that you fucking hate Pink Floyd. Good times were had, nonetheless.

But then, you don’t know what changed, but Trash started to overstay his welcome. He’d just linger for hours, never taking the hint you wanted him to leave, no matter how many times you yawned obnoxiously or mentioned how early you had to get up tomorrow. Trash just didn’t get it. You were getting older. You didn’t have the time anymore to stay up until 3 a.m. to talk about the Port season of “The Wire” or how much you miss Jawbox. Eventually, you just stopped taking Trash’s phone calls and no longer replied to his group e-mails about sneaking into abandoned mental hospitals.

Last time you saw Trash, he was smoking alone outside a local dive bar, looking down at his decaying and mismatched shoes. You hoped he had been doing well. You hoped he had not been hurt by the disintegration of your friendship. And if he had, you wanted to comfort him. You wanted to tell him that even though people move on with their lives, it doesn’t mean they stop caring. You wanted him to see in your eyes a sincere appreciation for the time you shared, because all the relationships in our lives help make us who we are, and even if you weren’t the best of friends anymore, you wanted him to know that there would always be a piece of Trash in your heart.

But instead, you looked away and crossed the street. You were with your new girlfriend, and you really didn’t want to have to explain Trash to her. She’d never understand.