4.24.2007

Pseudoppression.

I don't know if it was because of my birthday or what, but 22 visitors in one day?! That's more than double my previous high. Nice work people. Take five.

I've been listening to a lot of Less Than Jake this past week or so, particularly Anthem. It's pretty good, but it definitely falls into the "we gotta get out of this place" vein they've become known for. And I started to think about a time when I felt the same way.

It's odd because by any count I've made it out. Cool. The thing is I don't really think there was any point to making it out of the Minneapolis/St. Paul metropolitan area. That's actually a really good place to be. I can't really sympathize with LTJ on a very personal level because I never felt like it was going to get a lot better. But I have been around people in that situation. My peeps on the Iron Range definitely had LTJ syndrome. They wanted so badly to make it out and found it really difficult to do so. I guess I caught a second-hand buzz off of them and so every time I hear LTJ now, even this album that I've never heard before, it sends me back to my time on the Range.

I really miss feeling like my life was oppressed, even if it was totally phony and stolen from somebody else. It gave my actions a meaning that they don't seem to have from a mid-major city in Colorado. Not that I feel like I'm wasting my time here, but things become very clear-cut when you're looking from small town to big city. I think in some way a lot of people my age have that same urge. They want to feel a little oppressed so that they don't have to face the by-and-large meaninglessness of most of their actions. Most of us don't really actually know what true oppression feels like so it doesn't seem ironic or offensive in any way, it just feels natural. I don't know, I'm kind of making this up on the fly, but does it at all make sense?

1 comment:

Unknown said...

yeah, i see where you are coming from in that. I have always pretty much said i had the best life anyone could possibly ask for growing up.

I did have the occasion to spend 4.5 years in a small down going to college, so I felt a little bit of the wanderlust that it creates. And of course, after leaving I have now also felt the strong pull to go back to where life was simple, and a short walk brought you to everything you knew and loved.

And i really like about 3/4 of Anthem.