This Is Me--2024 A to Z Theme

My A to Z Themes in the past have covered a range of topics and for 2024 the theme is a personal retrospective that I call "I Coulda Been" which is in reference to my job and career arc over my lifetime. I'll be looking at all sorts of occupations that I have done or could have done. Maybe you've done some of these too!

Monday, August 8, 2022

Diversity Land ( #BOTB Results )

 Back some time ago folks eyed coming to California to pursue their golden dreams.  Then it was sunny weather, beaches, and Disneyland.  Now many who can afford to do so are fleeing the state while others like me are dreaming of going back East.  The nice weather is still here and the beaches aren't going anywhere--yet.  These days I don't know how people can afford to go to Disneyland or why they would even want to go there anyway.  Forget the what used to be The Magic Kingdom.  Welcome to Diversity Land...

What Happened?

     Most of  my elementary school years were spent living in San Diego.  Those years between 1958 and 1963 were for me a kid's paradise.  The city was still relatively small and there were plenty of wild canyons for a kid to explore nearby the vast housing developments being flooded with those post World War 2 families looking for a good place to raise their children.  It was a very good place. Those were some great times for me and probably many of those kids that lived all around me.

      Then as circumstances would have it, my family moved back East not far from my Cleveland Ohio birthplace.  First we went to Northwestern Indiana and then to East Tennessee.  In those years the nation saw the assassination of a President as well as a few other figures who many looked up to.  As I entered my teen years, the war in Viet Nam inundated the national conversation.  Still my life was decent. I had good times and grew into an adulthood that included some great jobs, a couple of marriages, and four kids of my own.  Most of the time I was pretty darn happy.

       In 1991, when I was offered a job in the Los Angeles area, I jumped at the opportunity.  My situation in Tennessee seemed to be at a dead end of sorts and my good memories of living in California were luring me back to that Golden State.  Things for me had to get better then they had become.  So I followed the money (not really that much as I think back) and the possibilities that this new life seemed to promise.

      Now here I am some thirty years later wishing I could go back to that old Tennessee home or someplace like it.   It's not all that easy for me to just pick up and go since it's more than just me.  Not that life is horrible.  I live in a part of Los Angeles where I feel safe and comfortable and things are very convenient for me.  I have to venture out away from my town to see those homeless encampments and these days with high gas prices I can't afford the leisure drives my wife and I used to take.  There is certainly some crime in our area, but not like you see on television news.  

        I'm thankful for all that I have, but I do wish I could have something different.  But to quote that old song, "You can't always get want you want".  So I guess I've got what I need to some extent.  I don't need to go to Disneyland and I don't demand any kind of diversity.  We've got as much diversity in my neighborhood as I care for and don't need to get into the realms of weird diversity land.

        Once there was a dream called California.  Now people are leaving in droves.  When I talk to friends in Tennessee they say the place is booming and being overrun by people from California.  I mean, really, what happened?

          And speaking of what happened...


Battle of the Bands Results



The Battle of L.A.

       My most recent Battle consisted of three different songs with the title "L.A."   Considering the diversity of styles, the outcome was pretty equally diverse.  Personally I liked all three songs.  Normally punk rock is not my favorite genre but the song by Los Illegals did capture my interest when I heard it in the film Mur Murs and I liked the actual album version even better, especially the drumming.

       I also enjoyed the song by Jackie DeShannon.  Bright and sunny like Southern California, this song has a fun pop sound that carried me right back to my high school years when that was a style of music we listened to much of the time.  I'll have to be honest--that song has been ringing in my head since I found it for this Battle.

        However, most of you who know my musical tastes probably can guess that my vote goes to the song by Neil Young.  There is a gritty realness to the sound and the lyrics with enough sarcasm to give me a wry smile.  Yeah, here's my L.A. and that's what I voted for.   And that means a tie.  Still not a bad outcome though.


Final Vote Tally

Los Illegals                      3 votes

Neil Young                       6 votes

Jackie DeShannon          6 votes


Next Battle????

        Maybe I'll have a Battle on the 15th, but more likely it will be on September 1st.   Right now I'm not sure what will happen.  I've got some things going on that I might have to address and I might not be focusing on blogging in the next couple weeks.  We'll see though.  After all, I'm in L.A....







12 comments:

  1. Stuck in California is not where I'd want to be either. I feel blessed to live in the Southeast.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Alex, North Carolina is a wonderful place from my experiences there. I'd rather be in the Southeast, but nevertheless I still feel blessed no matter where I am.

      Lee

      Delete
  2. I grew up in Oregon and I have NO desire to ever move back out west. The liberal loonies would make me crazy.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. L.Diane, Oregon is a beautiful state, but it does seem crazier than I care for. Maybe crazier than L.A. But there is the beauty and they have more rain.

      Lee

      Delete
  3. LEE ~

    I can certainly imagine that with all that perfect weather and life being so much simpler and primarily non-violent back then, San Diego would indeed have seemed like a kid's paradise in 1958-1963.

    Orange County and Santa Monica / West L.A. were pretty much like paradise during my elementary school through high school years, and even for a few more years afterwards ('59-'85).

    So you moved to L.A. in '91? Damn! Just in time to enjoy the "Rodney King Riots" in '92. Timing is EVERYTHING!!

    Where I live now, we don't have a real newsPAPER; the local news is updated daily (sometimes even hourly) on a website. This website actually reports ALL of the local arrests (mostly occasional events like a D.U.I., a theft at Walmart, or some nut on drugs yelling at the sky on the North end of town). The website also tells us about car accidents that have occurred, so we know which streets to avoid. Can you imagine a website trying to report on ALL the crime and any auto accidents where police and emergency personnel show up in Los Angeles?! Ha!-Ha!

    I feel like I've gone back in time here (I think it's somewhere between 1966 and 1972), but I don't like to talk about it very much online for fear that my new hometown will start looking like my own hometown does now. I've seen what happens when the rest of the country moves in!

    You had a good Battle here. I liked the theme, and the outcome clearly indicates that you created a fine match-up.

    I've got what I think is a pretty solid list of good BOTB ideas lined up, and I just need to figure out in what order I want to present them. As long as I keep getting double-digit votes, I'll keep on keepin' on with Battle Of The Bands on the first of each month.

    ~ D-FensDogG

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. STMcC, if I could go back to live in any era of my life I'd probably opt for San Diego in the early 60s. Except with some more of the innovations of our time.

      And, oh, for a good newspaper! They just don't print them like they used to and I find online news not to be as engaging as those old news papers that blackened ones fingers as they were read through.

      Lee

      Delete
  4. I love the idea of living in California, but I don't know if I'd want to live in a place with earthquakes or where it almost never snows. I love warm weather and hate snow, but even seeing snow for one day once a year makes me feel like it's really winter.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Carrie-Anne, actually we haven't had to contend with much in the way of earthquakes. Not at least with any damage to my property. They are scary when they happen though.

      I don't miss having to deal with snow, but in the winter I can often see it in the mountains that overlook L.A. and that's pretty.

      Lee

      Delete
  5. I love where I live and I don't expect to ever leave it. Then again, all the early life I had of having to move all over the place, which included 3 years in Japan, showed me that I needed to find an area that fits my needs the way I wanted them to. I've visited (or worked consulting) every place in the country I ever wanted to see, and for long term living I'm in the right place; it's comfortable!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Mitch, I lived in and worked in many different places so I have the wide variety as you describe. I can tolerate just about anywhere I guess as long as the government doesn't become overly intrusive.

      Lee

      Delete
  6. I would have voted for Neil Young, too! I admit to not knowing very much about LA besides whatever has been in the news. Plus, um, rom reading Bukowski...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Deniz, L.A. sounds pretty bad on the news. Fortunately my side of town is a bit better than what they say on the news.

      Lee

      Delete

Go ahead and say something. Don't be afraid to speak your mind.
I normally try to respond to all comments in the comment section so please remember to check the "Email follow-up comments" box if you want to participate in the comment conversation.

For Battle of the Bands voting the "Anonymous" commenting option has been made available though this version is the least preferred. If voting using "anonymous" please include in your comment your name (first only is okay) and city you are voting from and the reason you chose the artist you did.

If you know me and want to comment but don't want to do it here, then you can send me an email @ jacksonlee51 at aol dot com.

Lee