Tangled Up in Blue/Camo, Coors, and Cornhole . . .

 

Dear you,

This morning Captain Kirk went to space (for real) in a Bezos rocket.  A quick trip, but it seemed to do what travel to strange places does best – teach us to see things anew, pop our minds open.  During the post-flight interview, Shatner appeared to be transformed, intoxicated by that heavenly shade of blue and the beauty of Mother Earth below.  Most of us can’t afford this experience, so we stay local underneath that mind blowing blue.  Here in the Seagrove Beach zone, travelers keep coming, but not to see anew. The current crowd is heavy Tennessee since the first two weeks of October are fall break for their kids.

These TN travelers have been the recent focus of my ongoing anthropological study, and I have learned this so far:

1. The teenage girls wear camo themed clothing, bikinis, pajamas, tank tops and of course the ubiquitous baseball caps.  They are ready, day or night, to hunt or participate in a pop-up civil war.  Kudos for double duty fashion.

2. Coors light seems to be the beer of choice, especially at 9 A.M. for the under 18 set whose parents are totally missing in action.  They purchase this beverage by the caseload.  Without proper identification.  Good luck trying to buy alcohol here without an ID if you are a young black man from Atlanta.

3. They love playing cornhole.  They toss a bean bag into a hole carved in a slanted piece of wood.  They wear #1 (camo) while doing this and hold #2 (Coors Water) in their non-tossing hand.

Okay, it’s all a matter of taste.  Not every traveler wants to experience the shock and awe of the unknown or the beautiful.  Not every traveler can boldly go where only the rich and blue obsessed can go.  Some travel to one place and do the same things they do in any other place.  In this case, Tennessee is just doing its thing in a coastal setting.  Camo, Coors, and Cornhole by the sea. I understand.

Another pretty obvious assessment I can make regards political style. They (mostly) are conservative and thrilled by the “Trump Won” banner down the street.  Much editorial thought has been published about how Democrats better start courting this demographic or face annihilation by the GOP who owns their votes (and minds).  Even if they are outnumbered in our country, we should supposedly adjust, seek to understand.

Understand.  I do understand.  I just don’t live as they do, and I do not want to.  I don’t wear camo.  I prefer workout wear in solid colors and little black dresses.  And if you ever see me in a baseball cap, I’ve probably had brain surgery, possibly a lobotomy. I don’t like light beer. Especially Coors Light.  It tastes like swamp water.  Hand me a Guinness Stout, even in hot weather.  As for cornhole, no.  Just no. 

All those cultural differences aren’t critical, but the politics thing is.  Because of observation number four:

4. On many, many of their vehicles I see what I have seen all season, that revised American flag with the black stripes and blue line in the middle.

Supporting the blue line, no matter what. Tangled up in a not so heavenly shade of Shatner blue. Even after they view the latest outrage, the brutal attack on a paraplegic driver in Ohio, dragged from his car without mercy.  This stuff just keeps happening and happening and happening and the Dems cannot get a police reform bill passed because we need some of “them” to come on board.  We need to make sure we don’t alienate the thin blue line, camo wearing, light beer drinking, bag tossing people. 

No.  It is not happening, Dems.  You know that. We have to use whatever power we have to get some shit done as quickly as possible.  They aren’t messing around and they are not at all inclined to “understand” us.  And while we honor their freedoms and choices, please be clear about the fact that they do not honor ours in return. 

This is sad. Like losing someone, part of us.  As Bob Dylan wrote:

“All the people we used to know/they’re an illusion to me now/some are mathematicians/some are carpenter’s wives/I don’t know how it all got started/I don’t know what they do with their lives/But me, I’m still on the road/heading for another joint/we always did feel the same/we just saw it from a different point of view/tangled up in blue.”

A different point of view indeed.

See blue anew.

Anthropology class dismissed.

Joyce