If It's Not ONE Thing...
...It's ALWAYS another, so you can imagine my consternation when the first thing I find when I rub the sleep from my eyes and get Missus Bobby G. off to school/work, is that BLOGGER is having some brain-fart issues.
There were a LOT of people honked off over this, and understandably so.
Many of us LIKE to get our posts "out of the gate" early, so we cna get about the daily routines.
Now, I'm not the spring chicken I USED to be (who is anymore?), and I don;t take to early mornings in the manner to which I had grown accustomed.
It's such a joy to see WHAT part of the old body will not be as willing to rise with all the other parts of nature that HAVE risen.
ANyway, with this hopefully OUT of the way soon enough, let's get going and see what's happening elsewhere.
This story damn near tossed me off the chair when I saw it on our local TV station:
(( From the Journal Gazette - Published: May 12, 2011 3:00 a.m.
Henry announces ‘Discover’ initiative - Benjamin Lanka The Journal Gazette
Mayor Tom Henry wants residents to explore their hometown – and share what they find.
Henry on Wednesday announced his Discover Fort Wayne initiative, designed to encourage residents to explore some of the amenities in their own town.
The mayor said he became troubled when talks with residents made him realize that many people don’t know what the community has to offer.
"In order for pride to grow and each of us to become a great ambassador, we’ve got to get to know one another and celebrate our city," he said.
The program is spurred in part by a three-year study by the Knight Foundation and Gallup to discover what successful communities have in common.
The study’s biggest finding was that residents’ attachment to a community makes it a success.
Henry’s plan is an effort to help people connect to the community. The program’s kickoff includes two components:
•My Fort Wayne: the mayor asked residents to provide stories about what makes this community theirs and what they enjoy about the city. The videos are intended to create a shared testament and allow each resident to become an ambassador of the city. A gallery of the videos and photos is available at www.youtube.com/fortwayneind.
Residents can upload their videos to the site to share them.
•Social offerings: The city, along with Visit Fort Wayne, will offer special promotions to encourage residents to join in local attractions and events. Go to www.visitfortwayne.com for more information. ))
*AHEM*
((ROLLS EYES))
How "out of touch" can one person possibly become when elected to a public office???
Discover Fort Wayne?
Really?
Okay, now I KNOW there must be something in our drinking water...
This (to me) is a HUGE "WTF?" moment, to be sure.
Hey, Mayor Tom...wanna "discover" something you obviously are NOT aware of? How's about the burgeoning ghetto you have on the SE side of town?
In fact, I would strongly urge ALL residents of this fair city to "come on down", and partake in the manner in which YOUR tax money is being put to use (read wasted)...it WILL be an eye-opening experience for one and all.
Take some time to drive slowly through our slum-like ghettohoods, replete with overgrown vegetation, litter in abundance, the sounds of boom-car "music", and so much more.
Think of it like one of those DRIVE-THROUGH SAFARILANDS...all that's missing is some monkeys tossing feces at your vehicle. We DO get pretty damn close down here to that, so no "feeding the animals" on your self-tour.
This type of inititative by our mayor is typical of how a city will constantly seek to "rebrand" and tout those aspects of a city which are supposedly "great"...while totally ignoring the parts that pull the city the hell down into the crapper.
I say FIX those bad parts FIRST...THEN you can brag to everyone that the WHOLE damn city is something to be proud of, and not just those areas where the people still give a damn, watch out for one another, and certainly DO display the sense of COMMUNITY that is sorely lacking in "my" part of the city.
THAT is what makes a city want to be "discovered"...not a "coat of paint" on a dilapidated structure.
If I had a proper videocam, I WOULD indeed place a video on YouTube...with ALL the crap I see daily (and that would never be difficult, considering the consistency of the "locals" down here)...they SO love their routines.
Now THAT would definitely get noticed.
I've had the "script" mentally-written for some time now.
And that brings me to one of my personal favorite lists...
(King Henry...take note)
YOU KNOW YOU LIVE ON THE SOUTHEAST SIDE OF FORT WAYNE IF...
-You have NOWHERE to shop...BUT everywhere else.
-Your pistol is always next to the salad fork at the dinner table.
-You weigh your words carefully when using "crack" and "house" in the same sentence.
-You have a liquor store within walking distance, no matter WHERE you live.
-You have the police department on "speed-dial".
-You have the fire department on "speed-dial".
-You have animal control on "speed-dial".
-You have code enforcement on "speed-dial".
-Memorial Day doesn't honor the dead...it WAKES them UP due to the loud music.
-Your block has at LEAST one drug house, a flop house, & an abandoned house.
-HALF of the non-working males are COKE MULES for the OTHER half.
-You see more CORN-ROWS than ROWS OF CORN in the community gardens.
-Recycling means everyone else is tossing bottles & cans ON your lawn.
-City code doesn't permit you to install a Burmese Tiger Trap on your property
-You can piss off people in the area JUST by being WHITE ...and BREATHING.
-People are shit-faced & fall down in the street before 9AM.
-You think of "bling" as a bullet that ricocheted off of something.
-Your neighborhood is the "Sam's Club" of illegal drugs.
-You see more "neighbors" in the felony reports than on the streets.
-The good news in your area is that the HOMICIDE rate is lower than last year.
-The bad news is that all the people that NEEDED to be shot....weren't.
-There is more grass being grown IN houses than out FRONT of them.
-The only REAL sale on COKE is at Family Dollar...in 2 liter bottles.
-A LOUD neighbor's music mysteriously shuts off as soon as you call the police.
-Almost everyone living around you is on probation or house arrest.
-Almost everyone ELSE living around you has an active warrant (or two).
And lastly...
You Know You Live on the Southeast Side of Fort Wayne when...
- In YOUR neighborhood and household....tactical IS practical!
Now why not think upon THOSE things you NEED to discover, mister Mayor?
Let call things for what they ARE...and not how we idealistically wish to view them, kapeesh?
I'm a bit of an idealist MYSELF, Mayor Tom, but I can also see the forest for the trees, and DO know the difference.
(damn shame no one at City Hall ever hears it when one of those trees falls in that forest)
Why not just rebrand this city with THIS slogan:
"Fort Wayne: We're not AS GHETTO as YOUR city, but we're trying!"
Too much?
Nah...right on target and in that TEN-RING for sure.
Just something REAL to think about, mister mayor.
Be well, make a difference to someone, and...
Stay safe out there, America.