(SATIRE IS OUR MIDDLE NAME!)
Carolyn had just gotten back from seeing a student(a cousin) who went to the University of Oregon,and lived in that neighborhood.To my amazement(truly, I had no idea~) she was robbed right on the street,in the evening,just coming back to her car.
Poor Carolyn; all her ID,CREDIT CARDS(social security card) bank statement,keys, and everything she had, was forcefully robbed by real bad guys, who were a common thing now around the whole university neighborhoods.
Wow,a crime in Eugene university area, that did not involve rape of a female student!!! what a relief!!And –it happened to a female senior,not a student!!Well, everyone who lived in the students’ living area,was now apt to be robbed or burglarized.L.A., NYC,and all parts of California and back east had truly moved right to Oregon behind all the fleeing masses, we have the crime they all were fleeing to get away from. Along with the massive traffic, freeways, and ever constant SMOG.
You move to a nice green Oregon,bring all the trash with you,and suddenly it too becomes the piece of shit neighborhood you moved away from.
The police were so busy,they had to get some out of work local men to help Caroline;she punched her phone tearfully,canceling her credit card,bank acct.,and trying to get the locks changed on her house.–How was she going to cancel her social security number?NO WAY!!”Sit down,Carolyn,” I said,patting her arm,and getting her a drink,”I’ll help you get ahold of Experian,and the credit websites,but we have to change your locks right away.–Otherwise, you’ll get burglarized as well. “
She tried to joke,”Utah and Mormonism is starting to look real good about now,” she chuckled,”or growing potatoes in Idaho.” “Don’t think I haven’t considered Alaska myself,”I replied,sitting down”But Alaska is too expensive to live in,and I don’t think I could handle the seasonal lack of light.Its bad enough in Oregon. My vitamin D level couldn’t handle it.” I grinned,”But I have talked to some cousins who lived in Alaska, on my mom’s side; they mostly trapped and skinned for furs,I guess you gotta have a good source of dough to go there.–or a good job.”
I didn’t object when Carolyn lit a ciggarette,she hadn’t smoked for many years,but this was a true crisis.Now anyone who walked around the student living neighborhoods could get brutally robbed, including any visitor;Oregon had CHANGED RADICALLY,besides just the major weather changes. Now thousands of newcomers transformed Oregon(we’re including the huge corporation developers) into a place we had trouble living in, with all the major problems of a huge urbanized state, and there was probably no way we could escape the monster Oregon had become.
Besides those changes,the state of Oregon was going bankrupt,with millions of dollars in deficits,trying to sell all it’s state public parks to lumber companies–just to get a couple of fucking bucks.
That sale would still not make up for the state going bankrupt,with civil service employee wages and pensions it was contracted forced to pay-We had just witnessed the legislature passing several new state taxes, including the rediculous bicycle tax. (How was that going to be enforced? We already didn’t have enough police or sheriff’s dept. officers, who was going to become the “bicycle-cops”?)
-sooner or later(probably sooner)even Lane county might go bottoms up,cause of its millions in budget deficits IT had. Everyone was braced for huge cut backs in services from the state, but some were already happening ; Lane county mental health dept. only took schizophrenics,& the worst mentally ill any more,just like northern California had done.
“I guess we could always pick a state that no one else wanted to move to,Carolyn–“I consoled,”Like my friend’s St. Joseph, Michigan.” “Doesn’t she live right next to a huge notorious,dangerous slum?” she answered,grimacing.”Yes,”I replied,” but most of the state is empty!! No one wants to move there,there’s no industry now,and you’re either homeless or very upper middle class,or rich.There’s nothing inbetween!!”
“Except they are getting plenty of immigrants,”she answered.”-from India,and Muslim nations.And that 200 acre new all-Mainland-Chinese community, that’s being built there,remember?-cause all the rich Chinese are buying it all up,in Detroit,so they can all move outta their decimated China, and live here.”
“I’m considering taking Mandarin at the university,”I said.”I miss the sound,since my dad passed away,yah know?Especially the swearing.” “He never taught you any of it?”she questioned.”Nope;he and my mom took a class together,after we kids left home,she went along with it.” I paused.”He always reminded me of an immigrant,like the old Chinese in Flower Drum Song,he never got used to America.” Sigh.
Carolyn was getting ahold of the credit companies,and I was thinking about Nebraska,North and South Dakota,Mississippi, Tennesee, Oklahoma,Georgia and other southern states– who hated any of the North moving in. How difficult would moving to a very unpopular,freezing in winter place,or with tornadoes, hurricianes, huge slums-state be, who’s residents didn’t want “foreigners” moving in?
Michigan was already getting those Chinese,Indians, & Muslims whether they wanted them or not. At least massive populations would not want to wade thru the freezing snow of Nebraska every winter, or snowed-in (South) North Dakota, unlike the now-moderate weather of Oregon.
Pick any state people had a very hard time living in,and make that your home. Would all those fleeing residents of L.A, San Diego,and NYC balk at following you to a difficult-to-live-in-state,if you could manage it?
But could YOU manage it yourself, without balking? I was a native of Oregon, I sure didn’t want to surrender the damn state to these thousands of Johnny-come-latelys who were busting Oregon at the seams. Why did I have to leave?Why couldn’t THEY turn around,and go back to their messed-up region? Why did I have to be pushed out of MY STATE?
“Let’s stick to Oregon,”I said to Carolyn,who was recuperating from her crisis.”It’s still our state,good or bad, rich or poor.We’ve been poor here much of our lives(except when we had to work in California)-and our families lived thru the tough times.”
Since the hordes have brought their problems with them,we’re not going to collapse if the state falls,or Lane county defaults on all it’s debt.–we’ve had it tough since we were kids.I know Carolyn never had it easy.-=-neither have I.
If Oregon also became the unlivable Los Angeles,as when the Eugene Public Library got shot up by local gangs(who went to the main library any more except the homeless and gang members?Not us.)–or when we inherited the massive traffic-jams Detroit had (which drove all the whites out of the city)–rendering Detroit broke and into a slum–Carolyn and I were not as likely to cut and run.–
–” I can’t sell my place for enough money to move away,any how,”I said to Carolyn. “You can’t sell yours for anything, cause buyers don’t want to pay enough for it.–Not like we could move away any how–no money. Besides, I can envy my sister living in her rich neighborhood in Northern California all I want-. People live in the place they’re meant to be in.
“We can handle the bad stuff happening, far better than the newcomers can.Shot-up libraries, robberies and burglaries ,University towns torn to shreds.It’s our Oregon,Carolyn,”I said,clapping her on the shoulder, and getting us another drink.”-for better or worse. When the going gets tough, the tough get going. We’re here, its our home,let’s get you armed. The Oakgrove Gun Shop in Santa Clara is a good place to start. You have a right to defend yourself.–that robbery could have been far worse on you.–the next time it could be. “
“Whatever problems that Trump has,he’s still in the White House,and we still have the 2nd Amendment.I just renewed my membership in the NRA( even though the suckers are republicans who fuck up plenty themselves,) cause that’s the bottom line. You don’t have to let yourself be assaulted if you can help it.” “They sell tazers for the public,now,” chuckled Caroline,”I wonder if they really work? ” “If they don’t,”I replied,”we’ll get you something that DOES WORK. –CAN I interest you in a .22 handgun? Statistics say that most burglars are shot with just .22’s. You don’t even need a .38 .Altho–if you wanta to stop someone permanently-“
“I know,I know,the .38 will put em down,”she sighed.” I don’t have to kill one, I’d settle for riddling the guys with bullet holes.” “A wise choice,” I grinned. “It might even improve their looks,”she sneered,”it couldn’t hurt.Ugly is as ugly does.Ugh.”
(Sandraminadotty, says,A word to the wise–don’t move to Oregon,or Lane county,unless you can handle the out of control mess it is becoming. Maybe all those robbers have a tougher time assaulting the folks in Nebraska or South(North) Dakota freezing blizzards every winter. Maybe you should stay in north California,and build a rock garden(like my sister)cause there’s no extra water for an “organic”garden.She’s managing it ok(OK,she just got her back pack filched on the dumb Mass Transit,cause she’s old and nods off,)and it is dangerous on public transportation. She does not want to move;neither do I. Deal with it. You can’t run away from stuff forever.)