The comment that Erik made Friday is a really timely one since it hits upon a topic that I’ve been meaning to address in an Infrequently Asked Question. It’s something that I always imagine that someone randomly perusing the blog would immediately ask. “What in the world do you have against Kansas?”
I mean, I’ve even stated in my blog mission statement that a quarter of the content will be on making fun of Kansas. The first point people raise is why Kansas and not Missouri. I do live in Missouri so you would think that they would feel more of my wrath but they don’t for one big reason: Kansas just sounds a lot funnier than Missouri. It’s one of those comedy writing rules that certain words are just funnier than others and Kansas just falls into that category. Of course, that is a nice little excuse and completely ignores my actual feelings about this place. Given that I’m nearing three years here I might as well share some of my thoughts and ideas on all of this.
First is the fact that to everyone I know, this truly is the middle of nowhere. Or at least the edge of the known universe. If I said I was moving to Idaho people would think that I’m trying to get away from the world and commune with nature and live a simple life. Living out here just has a lot of my friends asking, “Why are you doing this again?” Or as Renee nicely put it in what seems like a lifetime ago, “We have a couple of problems EC. The first is, you’re moving to freaking Kansas.” There’s no way to put any sort of retro spin or up and coming trendsetting on this, it’s Kansas. It’s never going to be hip.
To Erik’s point, the people out here are very nice, in the sense that they are not openly hostile. I’ve never had anyone flip me off while driving, don’t even know if anyone blared their horn at me without my deserving it. Never had anyone insult me while walking down the street, which happened to me a number of times growing up and probably influenced the way I view the world in more ways than I would like to imagine. On the surface, everyone is very pleasant but the key word there is on the surface. (Ok, key words)
See, if you ask me the first word that comes to mind when I think about this town it is parochial. A lot of people would say that it is very close knit, which is cool if you are on the inside but if you’re someone like me, who moved here three years ago not knowing a single person, close knit means that you are an outsider and that is how you are going to stay. And that’s how I feel a lot of the time, that I’m just a visitor in these parts. Everyone really does seem to know each other, there is the rare person who didn’t go to Mizzou, KU or K-State but they are tough to find, and they have their set of friends and they really don’t need any more. So no one tells me to go to hell but no one tends to say how are you doing either.
The most interesting thing has always been when I tell people that I moved here from Chicago. I always get asked, “What do you think of Kansas City?” and the tone is never “Isn’t this place great?” The undercurrent is always, “Wow, you must think you’re in hell right now.” Honestly, I think that people have actually apologized to me for this town.
The thing is I have met some great people in this town. Real people who understand the big picture and are willing to think about what is important. If it wasn’t for them I would have headed for the hills long ago. But I still wake up to the news stories of parents trying to ban The Catcher in the Rye and I have to ask myself, “What in the world am I doing here?” Are there worse places in the world? Most definitely. Is there something to say about the fact that everyone is nice and civil? Certainly makes life a little calmer. But I don’t think that it makes life real. It’s the view that I should live in my cookie cutter house in a subdivision and go shopping at the strip mall that has the exact same stores as the strip mall a mile away. To me, that is not living. I search for the opposite of that and while it exists out here, it’s pretty tough to find.
So, no, Kansas really isn’t that bad of a place. Nice people, good steakhouses, a slight misconception that the Big 12 is the pinnacle of college sports but all in all, it’s a nice place. But after three years it still doesn’t feel like home to me. And that has to make you wonder about a lot of things…
The five random CDs of the week:
1) Laura Cantrell “The Hello Recordings”
2) Freakwater “Springtime”
3) Lucinda Williams “Essence”
4) Immaculate Machine “Ones and Zeros”
5) Neko Case “Blacklisted”
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