If I Ever Get Back to Oklahoma...Gonna Nail My Feet to the Ground

This week has been quite interesting, mainly because I've seen so much of it I guess. Sleeping is becoming increasingly more difficult, but I'll get enough sleep when I'm dead I suppose.

This last weekend I visited my grandparents in Vernon, Tx. Quite possibly the least asthetically pleasing town in the Northern half of Texas, but they don't actually live IN Vernon. They live on a farm about 15 miles outside of the town, and being there is like being a character in a Norman Rockwell painting or perhaps the protaganist in a Woody Guthrie song. The whole atmosphere bleeds 1950's era, "Eisenhower-styled" living. My grandfather still farms at the ripe old age of 76. I'm not talking about hobby farming, I'm talking, get up at 5am, jump on the tractor and plow-till-sunset-farming. The old man is a machine and he is completely in control of all the maintenance and intricasies that come with running a farm. My grandmother gets up every morning at the same time he does and cooks him breakfast, then lunch, and when he comes in from the days work, supper is waiting at the table for him. They say old German prayers before and after every meal, and read verses from the Good Book before and after every meal on Sunday's, because "Sunday's are for the Lord,"...thankful for everything they possess and feeling blessed just to live another day...a simple life. My grandmother tends to her vegatables and flowers in her garden on a daily basis. They have a herd of cats whose sole purpose is to catch and kill mice and any other vermin who might think they want to occupy the premises. The dog's sole purpose is to alert them of unexpected visitors, animal or human. She gets a rib bone every day, and is efficient at her job. Everything on the farm has a purpose and that purpose fits into a unique little system that I find compelling. Awesome...a true rarity-renegade lifestyle in today's gorge-yourself-stock-full-of-meaningless-shit-rat-fuckers-world...

As much as the difference in age and lifestyle separate myself from my grandfather, we agree on lot's of issues. Particularly his viewpoint on government. My grandfather is completely and utterly paranoid about where our governement is taking us. He comes from the old school, back when the Democrats used to be the "party of the people." Now, he thinks they're liberal socialists with a censoring-control agenda. This was the guy who fought in the Phillipines and saw the Communists take over at the end of the war, and how they wrestled control over the people and instituted the "all for the good of the nation" type hysteria that Communism produces. But just like all other forms of true Communism, it didn't work. But wait, he offers no love towards the other full-of-shit party. He can't stand the right-wing greed and the veil of theocracy and moral compassing they hide behind. He compares this administration to the Nixon administration, with its lies and complete bullshit artists that mislead the public into thinking that we are the good guys in a never-ending fight for truth, and justice, spanning the globe with their war-mongering.

He tends to carry a more alarmist attitude about our future than I, but he sees the end of it all in sight. In some ways, I think he may have a point. He sat me down this weekend, and being that we discuss politics quite a bit, he confided in me what he thought, like he was giving a warning to the end of order. He said, "You know it's up to your generation to make this country right again. The generation between your's and mine, made a damn mess of this nation, and it's only getting worse. It's going to take monumental reform, and your generation is, I fear, the only one who will have that last chance." I hated to tell him this, but the system is in place to keep reform from rearing its ugly head. If anything, our political system is locked up, and the key has been thrown away. That's a negative attitude I suppose, but it's a two-headed monster. The two-party system is so entrenched that if anyone who had ideas of actual reform and could possibly bring this type of change would be driven out like a stray dog. Despite their differences, the two parties need each other. After all it's better to share control than to relinquish it altogether, they need each other like leaches need blood. And there's no difference, despite what you might think. It's not what they tell you, it's what they do. That's what makes me so uneasy, is that the average American doesn't know this blatantly obvious fact. Enough political rambling...I really hate it...with a passion...

So, I'm going up to Oklahoma this weekend to kick it with my cousin Will. He's been interning at a range and wildlife foundation in Ardmore, Oklahoma. Catching and releasing fish is his job. What the fuck? They pay him for it too. It's not quite that simple, they do a little research, but shit man...fishing for a living? Sign me up...

Funny thing about Oklahoma is there is nothing really funny about it. In fact, there's not really much to it at all. What is Oklahoma known for? Too far south to be considered a part the Great Plains, too far west to be in the Mississippi Valley, and too far east to actually be considered the Great Southwest. They're like Texas' little deaf-mute brother! Why do you think the whole state spontaneously combusts eveytime OU whips UT's ass in Dallas. But I swear to everything that is holy, I have an absolute friggin' blast anytime I go up there. I can't tell you how many times I've gone up there and had spring-break-like fun! Shit man, Oklahoma is a fucking riot, I don't know what all this boring-shit talk is about! So if you're ever in need of some rodeo class debauchery, head to Oklahoma...yeah that's right, Oklahoma!!

I'll see you this weekend Will.

Cory Will