Don’t Meth with Grand Island.
My hometown of Grand Island, Nebraska was known for years (and still is I believe) as a METH CAPITOL. For shame? Fuck No! I take it as a point of pride! Let me tell you what, buddy, for a town of 50,000 it’s good to be known for anything at all. Being the birthplace of Henry Fonda and the site of the “Night of the Twisters” just wasn’t keeping us going, it took the phenomena of blue collar workers, bored teenagers, and plenty of empty space to make us the absolute best place to make, sell, and distribute Crystal Meth. If it sounds like an advertisement, it is! My hometown was awesome! I wish that I could live there now… but still live in L.A. of course. Not because of the Meth but because it’s so fucking fun to watch!
My hometown is what I would call a very small pond. And in this pond there are many, many odd fishes. Kinda like when they build new unmanned submarines that can dive to parts of the ocean that have never been seen by man and there are all of those fish that have glowing lights and strange tentacles and bug eyes… same thing. Sometimes I wish I could go there to disconnect ya know? Just do like 2 designs a month just to pay my 300 bucks a month rent (FOR A HOUSE) and drink $1.75 Miller High Life at a dive bar. The only problem, almost all of the eligible females moved away and went to college never to return.
But it would also be great to live there because there is so much that you could do FOR a place like that. When I was growing up we had NOTHING to do. Seriously. We used to have to put on DIY concerts there because there was no place to play music. We had a venue for a while but the city closed it down (the alley was the restroom) and also the rent money was used for, wait for it… that’s right, METH!
When I lived there, I always told my friends, “Wouldn’t it be weird to be proud of where you came from?” and it was true. I hated the place, it did nothing for me or ANY of its youth and I ran away as soon as I could. But a couple years ago I realized that I was proud of where I came from because it was such a shithole. It motivated me to get out and see as much of the world as I could. Until I got trapped here (damnit). But I still have a sense of pride in knowing that I wanted to get out and do something with my life, and I think I did. I just bought my airline tickets for my 10-year high school reunion in July and I can’t wait to go back.
Tags: Grand Island, Henry Fonda, Methamphetamines, Night of the Twisters
April 11th, 2008 at 7:54 am
Having lived in numerous cities and countries I can tell you that Nebraska pisses me off. However, I’ve been able to change some lives here in H-town. I might have more power to do good now than I ever will again. I’m a big ol’ fish in a, what seems to be, sometimes rotten sea. I like to make waves. I like being in a community where few share my opinions. I like to make people think for themselves.
However, I miss good food, good music, good theatre, good film and people my age. So, I head back to Lincoln this summer (the place I ran away from 10 years ago) I’m not sure Lincoln has many of the above…but it’s better than Hastings, right? (please say yes) After that, I imagine my life will take me to where I really belong, a nice overpopulated city…Chicago, New York, L.A, London, who knows.
On another note, I always thought a meth habit would come in handy. Think of all the laundry, grading and script analysis I could get done if I could stay up for 4 days straight. I’m just not a big fan of the tooth decay or my face caving in.