This Should Be An Unnecessary Post
I’m trying to avoid making blanket statements, but have the people in Dallas lost their senses of humor? If one were to use the comments to my recent “Neighborhood” post as the benchmark, the answer would be yes.
My post was SATIRE. It was an attempt to poke fun at something that I have observed over the eleven years that I’ve lived in the DFW area. Not that I’m comparing my piece of crap post to this, but have any of you read A Modest Proposal? Do you really believe that Swift was advocating the eating of Irish babies? No, it was SATIRE.
The nascent idea of the post was a running joke among my friends. I love Williams Chicken. In my opinion, they have the best fried chicken in the industry. However, Williams Chicken stores are (typically) located in really bad areas. Add to that the odd prevalence of liquor stores in low income areas and you get the root of satire magic.
My post was a satirical attempt to highlight the dichotomy of DFW life; really life in any large metropolitan area. There is a HUGE difference between what you find in a low income areas vs middle-class or higher areas.
Here are some typical businesses that you see in large quantities in low income areas: pawn shops, payday loan stores, liquor stores, industrial warehouses, convenience stores.
Do you think that you’ll ever see a convenience store that sells “rock kits” of glass tubes and SOS pads in Frisco? Hell no. They can’t afford the rent. The companies that can afford it are Starbucks, Banks, PF Chang’s, Chipotle, Central Market, and Target.
Do you find it odd that it’s difficult to find a liquor store in the ‘burbs? I’m not talking about beer or wine stores, but stores that actually sell hard liquor. I have to drive twenty minutes from North Garland to get to the closest one. Do you find it odd that it’s difficult to find a pawn shop in Richardson?
Brian from Art Prostitute says in his comment that I’m a racist. I would have liked to believe that someone so involved in the arts would understand that there is more to a piece that just what you see with a quick glance at the surface.
My shit may not be good, but it certainly is art.
And also another quick thought. Are the only posts that people are interested in posts about gallery shows and openings? Lately, it seems that all the new posters are getting shit for posting anything else. I applied here because I’ve been a reader for a while and the posts dried up and I thought I could offer a different perspective.
It wasn’t very good satire. This website has suffered from a serious case of WTF crazy for a long time, and a racist post – in jest or otherwise – probably isn’t a great leap out of the box post-reorganization. At least the art folks are talking about things that are going on, actual events and things that can be participated in.
There’s an art to cityblogging, and there’s not a lot of room for ranting unless the bottom line is “and here’s how to do something about this city-related thing I’m ranting about.” It’s a crappy place for random thoughts, meandering stories about this thing that happened at work the other day that has nothing to do with Dallas except that it happened there, or vaguely creepy capslocked nonsequiturs. There are other places for that.
So that post was a misfire, but you’re thinking about the city and class issues and that’s a great thing.
Lyn, you hit the nail on the head in your last paragraph…it was a statement on class demarcation and not race. I don’t think my post was racist.
Point taken on the misfire, however. I’ll segregrate my other posts to my personal blog and try to hone the skill of cityblogging here.
Thank you for the constructive feedback.
This definitely should have been a comment in the original post and not a new one. By the way, I have not lost my sense of humor, but sarcasm does not come through as clearly in a blog as it does in person.As for diversity in the posts, well that is up to the people posting. The goal of this blog is to let people know what is going on in DFW. I post mainly about art and music because that is my day to day involvement in this community. As soon as we are posted up in Dallas officially that will expand a great deal as both Mark and I will be heavily involved with the rebuilding Deep Ellum.As for calling me out personally…I didn’t get to where I am by making snap judgements and surface observations. I thought about it for awhile, before I posted, and was not the only person that thought it sounded a bit racial, as someone on the moderator end of things had received a message about this post asking how ethnically diverse the bloggers in our city were.I will say that I am glad that we have some new bloggers on here, and that they are all active, I hope that continues and we can keep this useful and beef-free.
This is a good example of the difference between an opinion piece and news piece. People are going to post opinionated comments as a result as well. People are interested in reading both.
Lyn did hit the nail on the head, there definately is an art to cityblogging, and the very fact that previous bloggers have dropped off over the past few months is a result of how difficult it is for one to grasp the “art” of it all. Getting scared away from opinionated comments doesn’t help either.
There are probably things that are happening in your neck of the woods that people can get involved in that might not be “art related.” Where do you go on any given weekend? What places do you like around town that are worth telling your friends about?
Check out any other city on Metblogs and see what those posters are up to. While you’re there as an outside reader, take mental notes on which posts make you want to visit that city?
And my last comment would be in line with Brian’s comment…if you have words to say regarding a post, the appropiate protocol is to use the comments to say your peace, rather than posting a new post regarding the same thing.
Glad to see you actively posting, let’s hope that the other “new guys/gals” have not been intimidated away.
Thanks for the feedback, Mark & Brian.
My mention of the gallery stuff wasn’t a knock at you, but just something that popped in my head while posting. There had been an earlier complaints about Nikki’s posts and Select’s concert/bar posts (which I personally dig–reminds me of the punk posters from my youth in Orange County)and I was just curious as to WHAT types of things people expected to see here. I like the Art Prostitute posts and hope visit y’all when you get in your new digs (assuming I can ditch the wife and kids, of course).
And I’ll also keep to the comment/post protocol as well.
Chris
Don’t let the haters detract from your art. The satire was funny and somewhat insightful. I enjoyed it. I, too, wish that this post was not necessary.