Edit: A friend of ours, Judd Blevins, is under attack by the usual suspects and could use some help in his fight. He is a good man trying to serve his community, but the freaks and weirdos are trying to ruin it. Here is his story and a way to send him a few bucks.
This week was the final escape from Lagos, which had been in the works for a few years but took off toward the end of last year. I am not a young man anymore, so I cannot just pack up and leave when the spirit moves me. Not only do I have commitments to fulfill, but I also have stuff. When your stuff fits comfortably inside the trunk of your car, moving is about waiting until the sun goes down. When you need a truck for your stuff then you have to put some thought into it.
Baltimore has been my home for twenty years. I lived there longer than anywhere else so despite the harms of Charm City, there are some things I will miss. The thing I will miss the most is the look when I say I am from Baltimore. One time in Ireland I told some locals I was from Baltimore, and they did not believe me. They had seen the series The Wire and could not accept that I lived in what they saw. I showed them my license and some photos. They were terrified of me.
There are other things I will miss, like the constant sound of basketballs striking the sidewalk at all hours of the day and night. I exaggerate a bit here, but the thud of a ball hitting the sidewalk is like a weird metronome to the place. So much so that I created a special filter for my podcasts to remove the sound. No matter when I record, there is, now was, that sound of a ball striking cement. Oddly, Baltimore produces few college basketball players, despite it all.
Another thing I will miss is the shouting. The first time I was in Copenhagen, I experienced an eerie feeling the first day walking around the city. It struck me that the reason for this is the relative quiet. No one was shouting. The Danes quietly go about their business on the streets. If they need to speak to someone, they go up close to them so they can talk without shouting. Even on public transport the Danes are quiet, not Japanese quiet, but never shouting or blaring music.
Baltimore is the other end of the spectrum. It is perfectly normal for a man to stop on one side of the street and scream at the top of his lungs at another man on the other side of the street. At first it is to get his attention, but after that they will hold forth like it is perfectly normal for two men to be screaming at one another on the street, because in Baltimore it is normal. People also scream at each other from their house windows, open car windows and even rooftops.
One reason for the shouting, but certainly not the only reason, is the constant sound of alarms from emergency equipment. This is another filter I have created for recording podcasts that I may never need again. It is not just the police sirens, which are common, but other sorts of emergency vehicles. Often, I would see the local fire department take their trucks out and blast the sirens for no reason, other than to make a racket and drive the things around the block a few times.
Probably the hardest thing to get used to will be locks. In a place like Lagos, anything not locked up or locked down will be stolen. Even if it is worthless someone will pick it up and carry it away. When we had an office in the city, we would leave old computers on the sidewalk, and they would vanish. The only thing that did not disappear this way was dead bodies, but the scenes from Haiti suggest that this is something that happens in the next stage of social development.
For the last week I have been locking doors after I pass, because it has become second nature at this point. Yesterday was a nice early spring day here in the hills, but leaving the door open to let the air in was too much. Instead, I opened the window of the office so I could keep an eye on things. Perhaps in time I will forget what it was like to live on guard every minute of your life. I may now understand how men who did long stints in prison feel when they get released.
Something I am not sure I will miss is the general stupidity of the place. The best example of this is car inspections. When I moved to Lagos, I had just bought a new truck, but it was registered in the prior state. I learned I needed a safety inspection before I could swap plates. Getting a safety inspection on a new car seemed weird, but how long could it take? It took all day. The guy crawled all over the thing and even wrote up some things that came from the factory as questionable.
I asked the guy why he was doing this as in other states a safety inspection is just a walkaround to make sure every important bit works. The guy told me with compete sincerity that the cars were safer in Baltimore. He could have said it was the law or that his boss required it, thus acknowledging the idiocy of what he was doing, but no, he was fully on board with the policy. Baltimore combines the mindset of the postal clerk with the intellectual dexterity of the population.
One thing that Baltimore has that I have seen no where else is street walkers, by which I mean people who walk in the streets rather than on the sidewalk. You see it the most when it snows and the cars are less controllable. The locals will walk in the middle of the streets. Even in the summer this is common. They will saunter along in the middle of the road without a care in the world. Of course, they jaywalk at a pace that suggests they take pleasure in holding up traffic.
Finally, the last thing I will miss is the tropical summers. Starting in mid-June Baltimore turns into a jungle. Jungle as in weather. It rains almost every night and is suffocatingly humid all day. Yeah, it is hot and humid in the South during the summer, but that weather in a city is a special form of miserable. Baltimore is below sea level, so it is a concrete heatsink in the summer. In fact, the Baltimore – Washington area is a giant metro area plopped into a swampy jungle.
Lots of people reading this will say it gets miserably hot where they live in the summer, and that is probably true, but hazy, hot, and humid in Lagos is unique. I have been in the South in summer. I have been in Texas during a heatwave. I have spent August in Florida and that is about as close as it comes to Lagos. The big exception is Florida has the beaches and lacks the haze. If you want to know what Hell is really like, spend a summer in Lagos and you will sin no more.
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You mean no Amish? 🙂
There’s peace in them there hills Z…
God speed!
I can verify that fact Vinny.
Welcome to the neighborhood, Mr. Z.
Country roads, take me home,
To the place I belooooong!
Took a while but now I get it.
What the Zman misses most is being addressed as “Bwana Z”,
That and his pith helmet.
A woman brought a limp duck in to the vet.
After a brief examination, the vet shook his head and said, “I’m sorry, your duck has passed away.”
The distressed woman wailed, “Are you sure?” “Yes, I am sure. Your duck is dead,” replied the vet..”How can you be so sure?” she protested. “I mean you haven’t done any testing on him or anything. He might just be in a coma or something. Can you please do some tests?”
The vet left the room and returned a few minutes later with a black Labrador Retriever. As the duck’s owner looked on in amazement, the dog stood on his hind legs, put his front paws on the examination table and sniffed the duck from top to bottom. He then looked up at the vet with sad eyes and shook his head.The vet patted the dog on the head and took it out of the room.
A few minutes later he returned with a cat. The cat jumped on the table and also delicately sniffed the bird from head to foot. The cat sat back on its haunches, shook its head, meowed softly and strolled out of the room. The vet looked at the woman and said, “I’m sorry, but as I said, this is most definitely, 100% certifiably, a dead duck.”The vet turned to his computer terminal, hit a few keys and produced a bill, which he handed to the woman, the duck’s owner, still in shock, took the bill.
“$400!” she cried, “$400 just to tell me my duck is dead!”The vet shrugged, “I’m sorry. If you had just taken my word for it, the bill would have been $120, but with the Lab Report and the Cat Scan, it’s now $400.”
Wow Z. Just think how plain vanilla your new life will be – the excruciating lack of diversity will be……. GLORIOUS! Congrats and all the best.
Take my diversity please.
Zman lived in Cockeysville, which is a mostly quiet, mostly White suburb a few miles north of Baltimore. It is light years from some kind of urban hellhole. He has even blogged about the yuppie Wegmans supermarket nearby and biking around the area for Christ’s sake. This is just another example the typical lying we always see from Rightists.
Dulaney: 53% White is not “mostly White” in my book. A former close friend’s parents lived in Cockeysville and, when I visited in the mid ’80s, it was a nice area. By the early aughts it was not so nice, and she was moving her then widowed mother out. That was few years before Zman moved into the area.
Surely you can lie somewhat more convincingly. Try harder.
Generalizations are like that. There may in fact be exceptions to a rule, but that does not imply that the generalization does not hold.
Maybe you do live in an oasis, but take this to the bank: crime & lawlessness is spreading and your little suburban enclave will soon begin to see it too.
Cockeysville. 21% black. Yikes. I’ll pass
Given the bad ratio of places I have lived in my youth I wouldn’t be too afraid of living there. Of course , not if I can help it. Everybody wants some street cred.
People. PEOPLE. It’s a comment from the “Dulaney High School Vice Principal”…!!!
A Principal at Vice? I heard that they went belly up. So maybe this clown now has a lot of time on his hands, yet still can’t break free from the corporate “culture” at Vice of compulsively lieing, so he gets his dopamine hit by coming here and indulging himself.
More to be pitied than despised?
I did find it funny that you agree an area that is majority white and a few miles away from the highest concentrations of diversity is far less likely to be considered, as you called it, an “urban hellhole”.
Everybody thinks their version of racism is just fine. Just like you! lol Your’s is just a weird blend of noticing that being outside the city center is likely safer and quieter because it’s whiter, but at the same time recognizing that inside the city center is the opposite.
I commend you on proving a point that is made often here: That there’s nothing inherently wrong with racism, that it’ll probably save your life and improve your happiness if you use it to make decisions like where you live, and the people who cry about it the most are the strongest practitioners.
Anyway, my extended family lives about 4 miles outside of center city Philly. What Z describes is true, but thanks for playing!
Funny. I, too, have a PO box and it’s sixteen miles from where I live.
This hammer guy has no self awareness.
https://twitter.com/ggreenwald/status/1768331681084084613
https://twitter.com/josh_hammer/status/1768332664430293121
This is probably a good time for me to riff off Z-Man’s Exodus Story with my own.
Many long time readers know the highlights of my story as I’ve been an active contributor here for years and shared my tale of woe. I am Z’s neighbor in DC, and I too, have recently after years of chipping away it and struggle, made my escape from Sodom on Potomac.
10 years ago, almost to the day, I got into a bit of a conflict with a minority on the job. No big deal. These things happen, right? In an attempt to defuse the situation I stupidly sent some joking text messages as one would do to a less brown colleague. (ex. “Yes I could tell you, but I would have to kill you afterwards 😊) This turned out to be a nearly fatal error. These messages, obvious jokes with no direct threat, were massively weaponized against me.
My minority friend took these to the very liberal very leftist law enforcement folks in the DC area. “White man who is firearm owner threatening brown man”. You can imagine just how eager they were to make this right. So at 3:30am a few days later my door was knocked off the hinges while a 5 man SWAT stack and a dozen other cops tossed stun grenades all around my house trying to find me. Terrorized my family and pulled me out of bed in my underwear at gunpoint with several fully automatic M4 assault rifles pointed at me, again I remind you, for a non-specific TEXT message. They also ransacked my house and took everything that wasn’t nailed down, “evidence gathering” you see is serious business!
I realized then that the country I grew up in was completely gone. They got 5 charges out of that single text because that is what prosecutors today do. They throw a laundry list of shit at you knowing you will plead out to avoid the 10 years in prison you’d get for sending a racy text message attempting to defuse a toxic work situation. The only mercy I was shown by this horrendous anti-white justice system was from a judge who wasn’t a political appointee. SHE saw what was happening and gave me a pretty big pass on the lengthy jail time I was looking at. I did a little time, yeah, but nothing like what they wanted for me. Once I saw how they mercilessly went after the poor J6 bastards I realized, I was simply an ‘early adopter’ and state sponsored terror against those who commit wrongthink is the way of things and it won’t be changing anytime soon. They sent an FBI SWAT stack against a -president of the United States- what chance do you, Mr. Nobody, really have?
My career was effectively destroyed at that point due to having a LOT of charges on my record. It took me many long years to rebuild and I told myself once I was financially capable I would leave not only DC, but this sinking ship. I hope people respect my decision to leave because this shit doesn’t happen in MANY other places. Some it does (UK, Germany) most it does not.
So after 10 long years, I have made my escape and I’m posting this from Europe. I have already said probably far more than I should re: specifics about my case even though its “ancient history” but in this anti-white punitive prison planet they have built for us, you never know! I cannot completely decouple from the United States yet because like Z, I’m have things there and a life there so this will be a lengthy process. But a journey of 1000 miles begins with a single step, and all that, innit?
I’ve been here a few weeks. I have seen- no LGBTQ shit, no rainbow flags, no diversity, no anti-white fuckery and very few grotesquely fat people. I’m really in withdrawal from the lack of DEI initiatives! I see Europeans who are proud of their culture and long historical traditions. I also see naivete because they have that “Hollywood” vision of America that we send out to the world. They have no idea that once the US falls and its in free fall right now, the global elite, the “rootless cosmopolitans” will eventually set their sights on everywhere that Europeans still remain. I feel like I stepped into a time machine and have stepped out again in about 1993 or so. And they will -never- let places like that be. They are simply too focused on the US and Western Europe at the moment but they will 100% be coming for everywhere sooner or later. I will spend my time here “educating” people about what is waiting for them should they let their guard down as we Americans did.
Wish me luck bros, it was a -radical- shift and its not easy, but most things in life that are worthwhile require effort and serious commitment.
Damn. Thanks for sharing your experience. It’s a terrific, yet terrifying, reminder of what we’re facing and how careful we need to be.
Thanks for sharing your story. It’s simply terrifying to know that you can not only have your career destroyed but that you can also be criminally prosecuted by these nutjobs for absolutely nothing.
I did not, thankfully, experience anything nearly as traumatic as you did, but I got an inkling of what is possible and it was more than enough.
Twenty years ago I worked at a college that was staffed by unqualified leftist cunts, and when they found out that I wasn’t on Team Left they conspired to find reasons to get rid of me.
One of the things they did was call the cops on me and have me investigated for bringing guns to campus. They were “frightened” because they knew I was a hunter. I never brought any guns to campus — it’s a felony. I never really discussed guns with anyone hardly at all because I knew who these people were. I never made any threats, any jokes, nothing. But they had heard through the grapevine that I was a hunter and pro-2A and that was enough for them to call the cops on me.
I literally got a “knock on the door” one day in my office and the cops came in to interrogate me and the experience freaked me the fuck out. I never got charged with anything — there was nothing to charge me with because I hadn’t done anything illegal. There was
no evidence, just hearsay. They were trying to get me fired and they were naturally afraid that I would snap back at them. So they called the cops on me.
Right then and there I knew I wasn’t living in a free country, but a Stalinist one.
Apex: Very best of luck to you, Sir. Genuinely hope you have better luck warning your new neighbors of the dangers of ‘tolerance’ then I have had here in our humble abode. Wonderful, salt-of-the-earth people, but utterly naive when it comes to on-the-ground racial reality.
All I will say is that I wish there was a tool in existence that could measure the rage level that this makes me feel…
There are no words to describe how much I hate this fucking hellscape.
Apex,
Congratulations. I can’t imagine what you’ve gone through. The worst that I’ve dealt with is a neighbor conducting a very public campaign against me.
I wish you the best in your new life.
“I stupidly sent some joking text messages as one would do to a less brown colleague. (ex. “Yes I could tell you, but I would have to kill you afterwards 😊)”
Horrendous story, thanks for sharing.
My immediate thinking upon seeing the above quote was, “oh, come on…who the hell takes this quite old quip/joke seriously”. I remember saying this as a young man among friends, the joke being played off of the then current genre of spy novels and movies of the time. Hell, I still remember making this “joke” when in university.
Then it came to me. I’m the dummy for not realizing, that that America no longer exists. Welcome to diversity, where no culture is universally shared and our diverse minority groups incessantly battle with each other for the spoils of this once great nation. 🙁
My gods, we are sitting ducks, aren’t we?
Try instead “I could tell you, but you’d have to eat your brain”.
Stay safe out there!
Best of luck dude and stay in touch with the group here – always enjoy your input.
Happy you landed on your feet. Insane injustice will be the lot of many whites in the years to come.
Good God, man! You did it! You pulled the plug. So, so very glad for you. I say this to both Z and you, Mr Predator! Very cool indeed. Couldn’t happen to a better guy. Z, you shall get used to the silence ; quiet and contentment are wonders. Good for you. You have no idea how many times I have thought of you and prayed for you to get out. Apex man, I envy you. Saw this coming over 20 years ago and here we are. I couldn’t pry the husband loose so southern Utah is my last stand. The land where men are men, women are women, and sheep are scared. Oops…slipped in a Basque sheepherder joke! Bad Range. It’s DEI training for you, Range!
Welcome back to Humanity.
Perhaps after adjusting you’ll think better of us.
Now… be careful… this IS the MOST DANGEROUS time for you, quite seriously.
This is when it happens.
Your guard is just starting to drop, you’re in transit and transition from jungle to civilization- the predators will strike now.
Normal people are even leaving Madison, WI now…the diversity is becoming a problem..
As Sailer used to point out weirdly often, Wisconsin has (or had) the most criminal black population in America. I don’t remember what his theory about it was. Something clever I’m sure.
Mine is that there’s nothing special about Wisconsin blacks, but they’re very, very unlike the local white population they migrated into. Scandinavians strongly activate certain other races’ predatory urges. The Minnesota Somalis are probably worse than the Wisconsin blacks now that there are enough of them to…be worse.
The last great black crime outburst in Minnesota, the early ’90s “Murderapolis” era, was plausibly blamed on a surge of Chicago/Minneapolis dual residents. Some change in MN law (and a train line, I think?) made it easy for non-locals to double their welfare/etc., and something about their periodic visits to Minneapolis turned the Chicagoans into SUPER PREDATORS™.
“Chicongo” could be a secondary effect of *that*.
Normal people in MADison? Pshaw!
Isn’t that where radical feminist university socialism began?
Of all places, I know, but Madison has a special reputation.
Madtown is an evil place. I had to preach against it once. In front of the state capitol. Loudly. With all the govt. office people watching from the cafes.
Some dood actually applauded when I got done.
Zman I always imagined you ensconced in your mansion in some green leafy gated enclave of Lagos. It sounds like you were living in the thick of the action.
Stop it Z Man! Look what you’ve done…given me vivid flashbacks to post-apartheid South Africa; specifically Soweto-on-Sea. 🙂
Home.
Its mythical resonance, balanced on the tip of the tongue, makes it one of the most powerful words in any language.
The messages that get sent when one describes one’s home city or town are electrifying. If you’re from a small Southern town, that defines you. If you’re a Yankee from Maine, that also defines you. Our residences make us who we are.
Growing up in a different town year after year is like living permanently in a foreign country. Moving around is hell. The only good time to move is as a comfortably settled adult, as described HERE:
https://dark.sport.blog/2024/03/14/home/
And to think after all these years not one basketball american teenager broke into to your home just to result in you teaching him how to write so he could get into a fancy private school and then pay it forward by teaching all the racist white kids how to bounce a basketball.
You’re the man now, dawg!
Yes, summers in American cities are pretty bad…worse than what you’d find further south. Most cities are in a basin, plus the traffic fumes and the endless concrete creates a hellish scenario. Even northern cities such as Minneapolis and Chicago get intolerable sometimes.
Everyone thinks Florida is some kind of summer hellscape, but it really isn’t. Yes the humidity gets high, especially inland, but the temperature never gets above 95, plus you have the afternoon rain which cools things down. Also there’s plenty of water bodies where you’re not too far from a decent breeze. I lived in cities where it would be hazy and still and 96 degrees for a month…truly not the white man’s weather. Such haze is non-existent in Florida. Just get used to the humidity, which is no big deal, and not much worse than Atlanta or St. Louis or even NYC.
I can vouch for this. When I moved to FL I was shocked that you could have a hot humid day with absolutely clear, clean air. There’s no haze and yes, there’s often a breeze from the Trade Winds or a thunderstorm to cool things off. It’s also true that there are no days over 95F. It’s probably just that at that low latitude the summer days are too short for the heat to really build in the afternoon.
Cities stopped being nice places to live when the 3d worlders ( including Puerto Rico) began showing up..In Chicago, they were confined to the south and west sides, and the rest of the city was really nice, with a beautiful lakefront…Now they’re downtown and North as well, and everyone with a brain has left…
Chicago is looking at Detroit and calling them a rookie. Every big city in this country is going under. Question in my mind, is can you have a viable society when all the cities are destroyed?
Question in my mind is, “Can you have a viable society before the cities are destroyed?”
Mott the Hoople, I have unwavering response to the “question in your mind” : No.
I know that these are fighting words for many, Cities and Civilization go hand-in-hand.
We’re still pretty segregated in Chicago. My mostly white neighborhood prices out most folks but it is located by a popular beach, so in the heat of the summer there will be daylight rapes and shootings. A few flash mob days. Mounted CPD were out yesterday and bicycle police are practicing summer enforcement. It’s still safe enough, if I arise early, to ride my 47-mile bicycle circuit that bookends N’western and U.Chicago as my pylons. I can’t wait to move to Alaska but that dream is a decade off. I’m staying for now because it’s pretty difficult to sue companies for IP infringement if there is no federal courthouse and I still need the money. Oh well.
Alaskafrom Chicago, interesting
There are a fair amount of southerners
& likely a few Chicagoites.i just haven’t ran into one.
Lot of people come but don’t last more than a couple years.
Don’t wait too long. It’s not easy for a lot to get used to.
I am quite experienced in the particularities of Alaska. Several dozen fairly lengthy stays there, mostly in the remote woodlands, AK is the perfect place for me. Not so much for mine, a very pretty CT Irish-yankee and Harvard prodigy. So I’ll just continue to work, probably into my early 70’s. I won’t be enabled to fly pax, but I’ll fly cargo to the oil fields and villages as a break-even proposition because I love flying and appreciate Alaska. I grew up, mostly, in a sleepy beach town in western Michigan but my annual gift was a subscription to Nat’l Geographic Magazine. This pulp, together with some globes and maps, utterly destroyed my vulnerable mind. Like some others, I was born too late for global exploration but yet I still try because it joneses me to be aware and living in the present which, as a professional in abstract fields, is unsuited to my natural disposition. Proof society tries to murder the soul. Not a goth.
Ahh, Alaska, no-see-ums, devilclubs, skunk cabbage, bears going through your garbage in the spring. Drunken natives. Everyone flies to Hawaii for a week as soon as the annual Exxon check arrives. High prices for everything because it has to be flown in from outside. No sunlight at all from Halloween til Valentines day. Used to be there were 2 kinds of people in Alaska in winter, those that join clubs and meddle in local politics, and those that drink whiskey and beat their wives. Alaska is great for men and boys but it’s really hard on women and girls.
Maybe you can work for Everts and fly a DC-6 every day, LOL. What a hoot that would be…
Fairbanks is a great place with some air quality and touristy downsides. If Chicago people don’t move to Anchorage, I can see them moving to Fairbanks. Everything else is a burgh, if.
Personally, I know where I want to live and this sted is none of these places. Installing a greenhouse and airstrip inter alia. It’s why I need the money and live in Chicago. My deathwish, other than provisioning for my financially successful wife, is to get paid for flying Alaska. And I won’t be enabled to fly pax. Say what you will, but I’ve experienced the seven continents outside the comfy too-much-money crowd. I wanna fly a Twin Otter, because I know that platform very well, but due to price it’s looking more like a Beaver.
“… summers in American cities are pretty bad…”
It’s the urban heat sink effect. Here in Tucson, we are at night an average 15 degrees cooler than the Phoenix area 100 miles to the North. The Phoenix area has had nights never getting below 100 degrees. Even in Tucson, as I drive to where I live just outside the city, against the mountains, I’m 10 degrees cooler than the (Tucson) city proper. I can leave my windows open at night and need a blanket.
Of course, the grifters now in power are blaming global warming, but the reality is that much of the problem is just lack of greenery and “tons of asphalt”. This is why the Phoenix valley could be settled for millennia by the native tribes without too much discomfort.
The fact that Phoenix, North America’s blast furnace, is now the fifth largest city in AINO is a pretty good testament to the present madness. Why would anybody want to live in that kiln? Tucson, OTOH, is quite nice.
As we think of Zman, we should remember – He’s in a better place now 🙂
I live among Diversity, in another city, and I can confirm some things which Mr. Z describes. The shouting? Yes, there’s very much of it, and in my experience it’s often pointless, except that some shouters seem to very much like the sound of their own voices. And, it’s often used of course for bluster and intimidation.
Another similar joy is continual horn-honking from parked cars, presumably from drivers too lazy to get out and let someone inside know that they’re there. This happens at all hours.
Of course there’s also the frequent blasting of “music” from cars, and from houses. And the uncollected litter.
As Mr. Z says, one is on guard every minute. Driving through the area is like an obstacle course, with real-life dangers. The “streetwalkers” that he describes are very common here too, among other hazards.
I had an acquaintance who worked for a western government in the real Lagos, many years ago but long after colonialism. He told me about seeing dead human bodies along the road in the morning on his way to work. They were still there when he drove home in the evening. He did like the Nigerians whom he worked with.
Someday I’m hoping to make the Exodus from Diversitopia. For some of us, it can pose a lot of challenges to make the move, but the determination is there at least.
I haven’t yet read the other comments, so apologies if I’m recounting things similar to others here. I’m sure these are common experiences.
Once you are retired the moves get much easier because you have the time to pack up, in small slices, and have time to plan the dates of your departures. Also, you can allow more time for the people from whom you bought your new home to move out because everything doesn’t have to be done on a tight schedule. It wasn’t the moves that got to me as much as getting accustomed to new sounds, like a different refrigerator hum, or a new traffic pattern sound outside your bedroom window, or finding out where the most convenient bank, grocery store, post office, library etc was, as well as driving around the town on a daily basis for a month so I could learn where the shortcuts and bad areas were.
Thanks, audacious. Once some family and work obligations are sorted out, I’m hoping to at least make it to a small town. I’ve lived in the country and loved it, but family issues forced me to leave my little utopia, on the edge of a forest.
audacious mendicant: Traffic pattern sounds? What are those? Living at the dead end of a dirt road miles off the paved one, there is no traffic. Even hearing/seeing airplanes overhead is now a rarity (and I lived in Rosslyn, VA a few times). After a lifetime of urban and suburban living, I am now truly ‘living the dream.’ One of the first things I do each morning is feed the deer waiting in the yard. Paradise.
Onion trucks hitting their jake brakes going down the hill at 5 AM. I am in very rural ag land.
You are cautioned, Sr. 1660: choose carefully when you decide to opt-out of “Vibratopia.”
Yours Truly relocated from Gotham to “Contemporary White” – to a storied (but alas, propped-up!) ‘burg you’ve all heard of.
Surely, many of you have visited: Although very much a part of Northeastern Yankeedom, it’s 25 mi. from the nearest interstate, and – of course! – 95%+ Cau-cas-ian.
Trouble is, it’s a magnet for “our betters.”
(One of the first western outposts of New England Puritanism, the “King James” that Joseph Smith used for his research and marginalia when putting together the Book of Mormon was published and bound about100 yards or so from where I am presently sitting.)
There’s a lot of Old Money about (e.g., the scions 19th century Beverage Moguls). Their presence tends to attract a certain type of New Money (e.g., semi-retired K-Street Operatives).
“Our Landlocked Nantucket…!”
Eff These People. Do I miss Vibrancy? No. But I would accept a degree (a “well leaned – upon” degree, mind you!) of vibrancy over the passive-aggression and Classism that’s the general vibe ’round these parts.
(The Hoi Polloi are all right, but…I recently rolled my 90’s era S-class into a roadhouse parking lot and you’d have thought by the response I got that I flew in of a Ham as Glider.)
Anyway, the “kampf” between Team Dually and Team Subaru is distressing to behold (I’d never been previously exposed) and does not bode well.
My problem(s). But I feel I must add – and this may or may not surprise you! – that this hood is Very Dyke-y, too: Yep!
Thanks, rasqball. Yes, college towns USED to be nice places. I ran into that dykiness too in one where I was for a while.
“And the Bioleninists shall inherit the cities and towns, laying waste to all the quaint places of the earth, until truth and the Lord come to reign again.”
I would rather live around hispanics than shitlib whites
That, essentially, is what I was trying to illustrate.
(Are wealthy, “establishment” shitlibs better than the “Adjunct Set?”
I dunno…
But I wanted also to illustrate that the “Dually crowd” ain’t ‘zactly “jolly” with anybody driving a benz – of any vintage – even if it IS a diesel.
Once the ice is broken, they’re ok, but they’re not really “open” people, and they seem incapable of reaching out and forming friendships (allegiances) outside their gens.
I suspect that many of the younger idiots who express a desire to live around more “diversity” have subconsciously come to the same conclusion about shitlib whites, or consciously think that these shitlibs represent white people
But I wanted also to illustrate that the “Dually crowd” ain’t ‘zactly “jolly” with anybody driving a benz – of any vintage – even if it IS a diesel.
Nope. History tells them (us) that more than likely anyone driving a Benz is not cool with a Gadsden Flag, let alone a Battle Flag of the Army of Northern Virginia.
That’s why it’s important to get out early. You do not want to be thought of as “free preps”.
Jeffrey Zoar: Please, no more of these “pick your favorite poison” mini-threads. Is ‘x%’ strychnine better than ‘y%’ arsenic preferable?
How about NONE OF THE ABOVE?!!!
PA has a state safety inspection that is statewide and an emissions inspection which only applies to certain counties. But the inspections are done by private garages. Of course, as expected, this opens the door to graft. There are lots of garages that will pass a car no matter how bad it was so long as you allow them to do a few hundred in repairs, whether or not you actually need those particular repairs.
VA operated like this too when I was a kid. My Dad depended on this “parallel market” to keep his junkers on the roas lol.
Oregon has state-run emissions inspection stations. To be fair I never get stuck in line or have it take too long, and they are open in the evenings now in order to inspect nocturnal emissions.
real hands-on, huh?
Tars: Texas required inspections and all the south of the border ‘newcomers’ all had cousins who had friends who would ‘inspect’ – and pass – anything at all. Just another way for the State to pick your pocket under the pretense of ‘safety.’
No inspections where we now live, and we’ve seen far fewer visibly dilapidated vehicles on the road here.
Yeah, Philly is loaded with jalopies that shouldn’t be on the road, usually driven by people without a license or insurance either. Though, to be fair, I think Philly is the highest insurance county in the US. It is so expensive it used to be very common to register a car in NJ for the better insurance. Jersey is the highest insurance costs state in the country.
You are right, it is the illusion of safety and a way to get in your pocket. Because even though the state doesn’t do the inspections, they still get a fee plus charge you for the physical stickers that go on your windshield. The worst graft is that they sell your information about your license and what kind of car you drive and where you live, your driving history etc etc. They even do this for a “non-driver’s license” (an official ID)
Used to live in Princeton and frequently drove through Trenton. Many of the vehicles in Trenton smoked like London chimneys, had busted tail lights and windows, bumpers barely hanging on by a single bolt, etc. It was so common and laughable that even now, some 20+ years later, when my wife or I see a terribly delapidated vehicle down here in Texas, we immediately call out, “Trenton hooptie!”
Congratulations Zman, I was lying in bed last night and laughing to myself about the fact that I know which agency is passing the house by the color of the lights reflecting on the wall, pure red, fire, red with a little blue, cops . I’m pretty close to your age and can still remember leaving the key to the front door under the mat or in the milk box. Yes milk box. Look it up lads . . We’re talking 70’s here. As far as people walking in the streets, the Koreans do it all the time while wearing a mask of course. Don’t want to get COVID and definitely don’t want any part of the knock out game.
In my area, milkmen were a thing of the past by the 1970s. I did know a guy in high school (80s) whose mother had a milkman, but it was just regular milk he would deliver. It was literally cartons of milk that you could buy in the store and not fresh milk in a reusable bottle. Totally pointless.
Walking in the street is pretty common here in Philly, but only tertiary streets and usually only kids.
Worked at a university in Camden, NJ for a bit over a decade. Had to transit through neighborhoods near to campus on my way to work. Got used to the local mid-street/crosswalk Camden Mosey, definitely passive aggressive.
Camden, eh? You’re lucky to be alive.
Born in 1971 and I remember having a milkman. At some point in the mid-late 70’s he went the way of the dodo, although we kept the metal dairy box on our back steps for a couple more years.
When I was a younger kid, home delivery of dairy products was still a going concern, so we had a foam-insulated metal milkbox. Still have it, but now it is a home for outside dog toys.
For the first years of living in our South Jersey home, we had an open, but roofed breezeway between the garage and the kitchen door, but still, drifting snow was a problem. So, my parents turned it into a closed mudroom with storage cabinetry and HVAC ducts to improve its utility. At that time, dairy delivery was still a thing, and so a special cabinet with an exterior door was included in the design. After the delivery was discontinued, the little door was partially covered when a brick planter was built under the picture windows and sliders across the front of the family room/kitchen. The cabinet is still in use and accessible from inside. My wife and I reside in this home my dad designed.
In the Portland area, during the Coof panic, I almost hit several of these streetwalkers. There was a species of Covidian who would walk in the road to avoid breathing the same air as fellow pedestrians. These people were apparently so mathematically challenged that they failed to understand that the risk of being killed while walking in the middle of a busy road far exceeded the risk of dying from the Big Bad Head Cold. I’m from Baltimore too though and this reminded me of dodging the kind of streetwalkers Z is talking about.
I just remember driving through pee-town after the summer of love and it being like a scene from an apocalyptic movie where there would be no one outside except one or two bums shuffling around like zombies and all the buildings boarded up.
I got the take out my parents wanted and it was one of those where they had set the bag of food on a table in front and everyone working there was hiding in the back from the plague.
Pee-town. Yes, I like it. That’s basically about all that’s left there, piss, shit, and weed all co-mingled in the endless rain. P-town is a giant gray-green toilet.
Perhaps I won’t build my summer home there, after all…
Heard a streetwalker arguing with a store clerk one day.
“You don’t unnastand, ma boi! I’m a mathematician.”
Apparently it was something about the change.
Want to know what the mathematician was buying?
Lottery tickets.
Would have been a dam’ shame if some of those fools had gotten run over, wot…
IIRC, we used to drink a lot more milk in those—90% White—days of our country. I still remember my father ordering a large glass of milk with his dinner at the restaurant. Toss in a 50% brown/Black minority population and “milk is for kids”.
For some of our Vibrants, their gene set makes them lactose intolerant.
Welcome to old age. Reminiscing is like visiting with an old friend and sharing stories about the bygone times. Of course, this should be conducted on the front porch in rockers accompanied by a corn cob pipe and glass of lemonade. It should carry on until dusk and there should be creaking when you get up to go inside, but you will be unsure if the creaking is in the chair or your knees. And the best stories are told to your grandkids in the hope that they will benefits from a few scraps of wisdom before you expire.
European pubs were invented for this same reason as well. In my neck of the woods, the old farts gather at the local McDonalds every Tuesday at 6 am. We really should leave more behind than just stale memories.
I remember being entertained as a child by the simplest things–a new jump rope, one of those tiny turtles that could be bought from the dime store for a dime, marbles, riding your bike everywhere (“be home by suppertime”), coloring books, playing “funeral”, pine cone fights with the kids from across the road, new adventure/mystery books from the small library in our town.
Back in the 80s, Bawlmer was just about the biggest hotbed of high school basketball in the country. Almost every high school had major-college talent, but Baltimore Dunbar produced the most. In fact, along about 1984 they had probably the best high school team in history. It featured David Wingate, Tyrone Bogues, Reggie Lewis and Reggie Williams. All four had excellent NBA careers. Lewis, in fact, was an NBA All Star. And he didn’t even start for that 1984 Baltimore Dunbar team.
But Baltimore, like the vast majority of other AINO metropolei, doesn’t produce the basketball talent it once did. I suspect the inner cities have become so dysfunctional that most of the guys who would have played high school ball back in the 80s, now just go into criminal gangs and then to the graveyard or prison. Or they rap…
Video games seriously reduced the number of kids hitting the courts and the time they spend there. Among the worthwhile things that have been lost through this phenomenon, basketball is probably far down the list.
Yes, but DeMatha started “recruiting” from Baltimore and later it became a free-for-all with private academies poaching the talent from Dunbar, Cardinal Gibbons and the other hotbeds.
Ostei – to the graveyard–>Len Bias. Univ of MD, but think he was a product of the Baltimore area.
I think he was from Hyattsville, MD (DeMatha). Reggie Lewis, too, bit the dust at a very young age. Coke may or may not have been a contributing factor to his sudden death.
When I moved to the state where I now live, in 2019, and went for my new car tags, they didn’t even ask for proof of insurance. I knew right then I’d made a good decision.
It is altogether possible I’ll never again set foot anywhere on the eastern seaboard north of North Carolina. Mainly because I can’t think of why I should want to.
Just an excellent article!
One that I expect will stick in the memory.
Agreed. And a mos’ refreshin’ break from Ukrainiana.
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We moved three years ago. The day after we moved almost every car parked on the street at our old house was broken into. I don’t know who did that but there had been a lot of goings-on since the people who became known as the “pool people” moved in behind us. The previous two owners were not known as “pool people” even though they made liberal use of the pool each summer so you can imagine the culture shock we and our neighborhood experienced after the “pool people” moved in.
This is the nub of the problem no matter the ethnic source (no, the “pool people” were not black.) Until the damage caused by the so-called civil rights acts and court opinions are overturned and freedom of association is enshrined again, we will have no peace in our lives.
Lagos, the home of Agora Publishing.
Hope you make it back now and again to feast on Bertha’s mussels. The best in the world.
For vehicle inspections, be glad you’re not back home in Massachusetts if that’s where you’re originally from. It’s gotten so awful that there’s now a bumper sticker to match “This Car Climbed Mt. Washington.” It says “This Car Passed The Mass. State Inspection.”
Pit beef sandwiches are Bawlmer’s greatest gift to the the culinary world. I make them down here in Texas on a fairly reggler basis.
crab cakes!, not some beef sammich
I live in a state where on and all live in fear of the dreaded “check engine light” right around the annual inspection. So much so that many shops have a business model that can be summed up as ‘extortion’ by way of what ‘repairs are needed’ to ‘pass inspection.’
The big one is low hanging fruit: BRAKES. There is a large chain that is named after an woman’s name from long ago that got one family RICH by having a pay phone, back in the day, next to the counter.
“You’re gonna need brakes” said counter person – there’s a payphone, when women, alone, needed to call hubby to get permission. Perfectly safe pads and rotors, off. Ca-ching, rich family, eventually sold to investors, went national.
I know of those scammers I won’t name, first-hand.
So here in this state, where they run Tee Vee commercials, you know the ‘free scan’ of your check engine light, usually show a nice black lady putting in your new battery.
Normie takes it up the shoot. Get one of those $30-ish OBD 2 scanners, the find that show the state of the ‘computer’ — if it is cleared after YOU clear the CEL.
Ignore the intructions on them ALL that you need to have the ‘ignition on car not running…’ They work fine, car running, including clearing codes.
Clear any codes that might hold up inspection, keep plugged in until computer is ready to be tested. Wheel down to pirates, get your little state sticker.
Typical codes, O2 sensor, gas tank fume recirculation system, stuff like that that old cars go years without a hitch, but can cost you thousands at these thieves.
At worst, pull own codes, repair with knowledge. Always KNOW so you avoid being extorted. Clear non running condition and safety codes to get your little sticker.
And if the pirates say you need brakes, make them SHOW YOU your brakes. Look up what a “brake” is if not already known as many Normies cannot open own hood….
Good luck with clearing those codes. The “important” ones are “permanent” — clearing them just allow the engine light to be reset if the problem persists. Get a $2k scanner (like the ones the Smog Check agencies usually use) and you will discover those codes will stay on the computer for possibly thousands of miles after being “cleared”, particularly if it’s an intermittent issue.
There is a way to clear them from the vehicles OBDII, but you might as well have it fixed for what it will cost to do so.
If this is the first time you’ve lived in the country I have a couple humble suggestions, as I’ve lived in both giant american megalopolises and very remote hinterlands (where I’m at now thank God).
Walk every day no matter the weather. If possible not on roads but through the woods and fields. After a year or two you’ll start to notice things and the place will take on a deeper meaning.
Don’t worry about being the solitary grumpy old guy living in the woods. I come from a long lineage of old guys who moved to the woods and were eventually found stretched out under the trees after not being seen around for awhile. I can’t really think of a better way to go.
If you own some land, then plant trees the shade of which you’ll never sit under. Not my saying, but I found one of the more satisfying ones. Doing hard manual labor outside year round helps make the day when you stretch out under the trees later rather than sooner.
Best of luck in your new beginning.
Well said. That’s my approach.
One astute country lad said he got tired of being ignorant.
He went around his place and learned the name and nature of each and every plant and tree. I’m afraid he might be at potential danger of being radicalized into birdwatching. Pray for him!
Your mention of the constant sound of basketballs bouncing off the pavement reminded me of how seriously negroes take their basketball skills.
Going to high school in the ghetto of Hampton, VA, I would occasionally get into pickup games in the gym after school. I was never a good basketball player, but I had good hops for a white boy. I was about 6 feet tall at the time and could dunk a basketball if I didn’t dribble.
Guarding a negro was fun because, at some point, I would block the negro’s shot. There is nothing more humiliating for a negro than to have his shot blocked by a white boy. The negro would start screaming, ” Gimme da damn ball, white boy! You know you foul me!” No matter how clean the block, I’d give them the ball with a little smile on my face.
Ah, the joys of spending time in the hood.
Are you a Navy brat by any chance? You’re the first white guy from Hampton I’ve encountered lol. And I was raised in Va. and university there too.
I was a military brat. We were bussed into the wonderfully diverse school system of Hampton.
Cucks: “But, but Truman (a literal Klan member) integrated the armed services!” He also rushed to recognize a certain plucky little country, and authorized the formal creation of the CIA.
You know, maybe a fair share of the blame doesn’t lay so much on LBJ. “The road to hell is paved with good preconceived notions and all that.”
And to be honest, we tried our best. We really did, we gave an inordinately fair hearing to all we were told.
I’m glad you made it out. I’ve been worried about you for the last 2 years, afraid that some depraved halfwit would get you before you could escape. My husband was in the foreign service, so we moved a lot, and one tip I got was to completely fix up one room in your new place. Get everything set up the way you like it, with pictures on the wall and everything, and move out ALL boxes. That way when you’re tired or stressed you can go to that little spot and feel like you’re in a proper home, not in a kind of halfway state. The mere presence of boxes makes everything feel unfixed and temporary, and adds to your stress.
It is good that you left before Haiti-style cannibalism became a new fashion in Lagos. Otherwise you could add another topic to your “things I miss” 🙂
Do you think white liberals will also accept the practice so that they are not called racist? They already went from classical music to rap.
I’ve heard there are already bistros in Burlington, Vermont, the Hamptons and Martha’s Vineyard serving dishes such as sous vide long pig short rib with peekie toe crab, pea tendrils and jackfruit coulis…
Oh, ha! Ostei, you’re killin’ em out there!
“Do you think white liberals will also accept the practice so that they are not called racist?”
Good eye. When you can spot a trend like this and watch it develop, it’s fun.
When gansta rap was breaking in the 90s, I wondered if the feminists all around me would criticize its treatment of women. It was fun, educational, and depressing for me to observe the white liberals learn that no, they could not. White liberals must kneel before savage blacks.
My prediction: white liberals will accept black cannibalism with a few apologies that the cannibalism is caused by the cruelty of whites to blacks.
However, a sufficiently strident black will be able to bully a liberal white in to praising blacks for taking pride in their cannibalism.
Naming that bugman drink “Soylent” suggests they’re already of an amenable mindset.
Weird sort of quiet national divorce going on right now. People are selecting where they live based on politics and beliefs. We went from deep blue NJ after the rigger 2021 Governor’s election and the vax mandate was going to cost me my job – to deep red South Carolina. While almost all the locals are some strain of “conservative”, many of the recent arrivals are thoroughly red-pilled having seen the beast up close and escaped.
Having spent my time in and near both Boston and NYC, I know that the opposite happens there – left leaning types flock to those places like they are the promised land.
When the breaking point comes, this mass migration may make finalizing the divorce less.messy.
The South Carolina of Lindsay Graham, Senator from Israel? And Nikki Haley? “Conservative,” LOL.
South Carolina is almost 27% black according to the census. I’m not sure that’s an improvement from my 99.6% white town 30 miles from the Canadian border.
My observation of the Deep South is that there are Negroes and singlewide trailers almost everywhere. The places that are nice to live are very expensive and the riffraff get priced out.
I’m sure Hilton Head is great… Allendale County, probably not so much.
I’ve yet to find a fan of either. In 2026, the party will probably arrange a dozen challengers to Graham in the primary so that he ends up with a plurality. That’s how our democracy works.
Is Graham popular with the locals that you mentioned? Seeing him booed recently made my day.
I don’t think so – not among those without political connections. He actually showed up at our church’s 175 year anniversary celebration.
People were polite of course, but the applause for him was the most tepid of the entire event.
Graham is a poster child for election rigging I think. He doesn’t seem to be popular in SC and is always behind big in polls but ekes out a pretty easy win every time. Same thing with McConnell in KY too. If Dems are doing it, it just stands to reason that the uniparty favorites like them are beneficiaries of rigging too.
Yeah, there’s no way in hell I’d live in the South just because of the oppressive negro presence. I suppose the mountainous regions of Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky, Georgia, Virginia and the Carolinas might not be too bad. Nuggras don’t seem to like mountains for some strange reason.
I live in the upstate of SC – please spread the word far and wide, to one and all that they would hate it here – best not even to visit..
Also, I hike in said mountains frequently. There has been a noticeable increase in vibrancy along the trails in recent years – at least on the more popular trails. Smoky Mt. national park is a veritable UN.
Mark my words: there will be far, FAR more mathematicians per capita in NJ than in SC after ten years time. The state is eager to accept them. Moving to a red state is just a matter of buying time. I was in NJ during coof and I vowed to move. Now, I’m in SC, and I’m trying to get my family northwest. Too bad there aren’t as many restaurants, say my wife’s family.
I also plan my move — whenever I mention to the swanky, liberal affluent whypipo that infest my zone, they say they “hate the cold” —- to which I reply, “good!”
Nope, they are all moving south, infesting places like Charlotte, where one of my ex nay bores is and recently bragging about his useless ‘electric truck’ pickup, such care for Gaia.
With the exception of shitholes like what they made of mine-a-sota, cold reaches clear the air of germs, and other pathogens. I travel to them for outdoor sports and watch the real estate prices….
Well, that sucks. The Park Service is probably busing in the Hutus. You know it must have been a knife in the park rangers’ guts to see nothing but Blue-eyed Ice Devils on the trails.
Of course there are singlewide trailers and hostile natives.
We’re settlers like in the West Bank.
The good news is, we started out on these continents in exactly the same way.
Seeing the ADL’s reaction to Tiktok antisemitism (Greenblat stated their top priority is that they’ve lost the young, so shut it down!) is giving me great hope.
Gen Z and Gen Alpha are going to make it through the Forge, and be our enemies’ greatest nightmare.
Maxda
My wife and I are roughly 15 years from retirement (God willing), but we’ve been lokkkng at where we want to go. We are in central Texas now, but it’s getting a bit too dark here. Things have changed as the demographics change. I’ll leave the details to your imagination…
Anyway, South Carolina sounds like our kind of place. We’re looking for a small, but nice house and access to fishing very, very nearby. Maybe we will go check it out.
It is nice but not perfect. Prices rising with all the people moving in.
Moving from places such as San Francrisco, Portland, Seattle, Chicago and New York to somewhat more normal places such as Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Wyoming is almost akin to immigrating from the USSR and Warsaw Pact countries to America back in the 80s. And those who move/immigrate are/were the most sober about the horrors of Leftism.
And those who move/immigrate are/were the most sober about the horrors of Leftism.
Nonsense. The tony gated communities of NW Indiana are 100% Chicago emigres, and reliably vote commie, in some precincts, exactly zero votes for any Republican on the ballot. It’s like they can’t wait to get out of one shithole and turn a nice place to raise a family into a shithole.
It’s why I roll my eyes at all this “tribe up” stuff — y’all obviously have not met many white folk. No more than about 10% make good neighbors, and less than 1% should be allowed inside your wire.
Now get off my lawn.
Steve: One of the biggest nearby towns (about 13k people, 30 miles away) is a hive of ‘escaped’ Chicagoans. Other than twice when I absolutely had to return an Amazon item via UPS, I have not been there in the year since we moved here. They’ve recreated their golf-course communities and built 5000 sq ft mcmansions on 2 acre water-view lots. They are busy trying to ensure they have a choice of ethnic restaurants nearby. A pox on them all.
I prefer to spend my dollars at the local hardware store and the county feed store. And I think ‘tribe up’ is the only way to survive. One simple needs to know who is in that tribe – and I’ve definitely excluded Chicagoans (any escaped urbanites who claim to be ‘conservative’ really) from mine.
I’m obviously not referring to Leftists who move. And I never met an immigrant from the USSR/Eastern Europe who wasn’t a hard-shell right-winger.
And incidentally, if you take voting Republican as an index of ideological normalcy, you’re barking up the wrong tree.
We left the Atlanta suburbs to pursue mountain life and I don’t regret it one bit. There are tradeoffs. I have a two-hour, one-way commute four days per week to either of my job sites. I don’t really hit traffic until I get closer to the city if I head south, but it is kind of boring driving that far every day.
But our property has views of the Blue Ridge Mountains, a beautiful mountain stream that crosses part of our acreage, an artesian well with all of the clean, tasty water we could use and no marauding gangs of “youths” looking to smash and grab. There are no porch pirates here. The sunsets look like a painting and moon, when full, paints the valley where we live with lovely silver light. There is no car-shaking boom-boom of stupid people with rap music blaring from their car stereos.
No traffic either. People are nice. The weather is milder than the heat island of the gigantic Atlanta metro. The ridges explode with color in the fall and the summers, while still hot, aren’t as miserable as they are in the metro.
There are plenty of streams for fly-fishing. We do a lot of hiking and spend more time together as a family in nature instead of front of a screen.
If someone needs a hand around here, you help them and vice versa. I just helped a neighbor repair his fence and he helped me put a new tire on my tractor.
When my wife had a flat tire, four different residents stopped to ask her if she needed any help changing it.
I don’t really miss the big-city stuff like pro sports, concerts, shopping and that sort of thing. It was nice, but when you deal with the prices and headaches of traffic, it’s just not pleasurable to me.
We are in the Ozarks, and your description matches what I see out my window every day. The hills, clouds, trees, wildlife, sunsets, etc. I wake up every day and thank God (and my husband) for enabling us to escape DFW and live here. We are truly blessed (even though we are currently under a tornado warning and don’t yet have a safe room).
Don’t vacation in Baltimore.
And never go to a Haitian barbecue.
“…the Baltimore – Washington area is a giant metro area plopped into a swampy jungle”…
Literal and figurative. If ever there was an apt metaphor…
Why waste good land on them?
I’ll need a big flatbed trailer to move all my machine tools when we build our barn-diminium on the farm.
.
Whenever someone has to live in the belly of the beast, they either fanatically embrace the ideology of the empire as to why things are the way they are, or they become one of us. There is no middle ground.
Whenever I’ve talked to someone who made a Peace Corp stint in some hellhole, or volunteered to teach in an inner city school, it all followed the same pattern. There’s a certain type of person who stares into the abyss and can’t comprehend what he’s seeing, and it has nothing to do with their intelligence or honesty. Some people have such a strong moral consensus filter some thoughts are literally impossibly to contemplate.
I think what you’re talking about it the ability to think independently. Most people would probably agree that this ability is real, like acute vision or intelligence, and that it’s more than just an impressive sounding title that some odd thinkers flatter themselves with.
I have no idea how to quantity the ability to think independently. It can’t just mean agreeing with contrarian beliefs.
But it is still useful to discuss subjects that we can’t quantity. Talking about temperature was useful before we could measure temperature.
Most people would probably agree, but not say out loud, that men have more ability to think independently than women. But how would you convince the skeptic?
But how would you convince the skeptic?
That’s the thing the classical liberals got right. You shouldn’t have to convince him. So long as he has no say over your life, liberty and property, who cares what he thinks?
Worldly government is not a priori, it’s empirical. How much does “the law” have to punish offenders to keep them from infringing on others’ life, liberty and property? Stake a couple AWFLs down over a fire ant nest and the rest will come around.
The value proposition of classical liberalism, I’ll leave you alone and you leave me alone, is not persuasive to most people on the planet.
I agree with you the enforcing classical liberalism on most people would require force. It’s one of my favorite ironies.
There’s no irony there. Classical liberalism does not oppose the use of force.
Third option – because they’re trapped in the fetid swamp by age, economic circumstances, family ties…whatever…they engage in Freudian displacement by turning inwards (living in gated communities) and rationalize (often to an astonishing degree) the “benefits and beauties” of existing where they exist.
Self-constructed B&B’s include such trivialities as the food, circles of friends, natural scenery, and Rotary Club-style community projects avec les indigènes noirs. Beating strong in their hearts is the quaint notion that positive change is just around the corner, crime and corruption will fade and that next year will be better.
It’s kind of like the good folks living in villas on the slopes of Vesuvius loving the sunset views, the great wines and wonderful sea food.
Lovemore: God, this. The rationalizing and deliberate refusal to notice (particularly on their block or in their school) is absolutely insane. Let them reap what they have sown.
Absolutely true about Copenhagen being quiet compared to an American city. I think it’s true of most European cities north of the Alps.
I think it’s a good thing you moved. If something really bad happens with the economy, a place like Baltimore is not going to be a good place to be. A week of no electricity and you’ll see the first instances of Haitian barbecues. Facts about the state of affairs from the economy to culture and demographics, say that’s where things are headed
Copenhagen is the most relaxing city I have ever visited. I think the quite is a big part of it. The orderliness too. Helsinki is also a pleasant city. Obviously, there are reasons for this.
And for no reason at all, the cities were peaceful and quiet…
Uh huh. “Reasons” indeed…
My visit to Copenhagen was many years ago, but the visit is seared into my memory: summer, blue skys and leggy blondes on bicycles.
Best city ever.
Quiet is civilization.
When I first went to Japan the first thing I noticed was that I could hear people’s footsteps everywhere. Over the years that faded as more businesses started playing shopping music and the general noise level rose to match. It’s still quiet in non-commercial places, but you used to *hear shoes* at the Shibuya crosswalk.
A long sad graphic novel about an old man remembering that sound—mostly fetish drawings of girls’ shoes—is sold in loudly beeping stores (I imagine).
For daring to reminisce, Winston Smith, I hereby sentence you to spend the weekend enjoying those two traditional Edo Earworms: The Bic Camera song and the Don Quixote Jingle.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3CxkDNCAE74
(Just the one is plenty)
Or Room 101. Your choice.
“Quiet is civilization”
That is a profound observation. I daresay the higher the level of noise pollution, the lower the level of culture. And few places are louder than AINO.
Ostei: “Quiet” is when the noise my husband complains about is the frogs in the evening.
“Of course, they jaywalk at a pace that suggests they take pleasure in holding up traffic.”
People who’ve never lived in a city like this don’t believe it.
See also:
Ability to determine:
“Who won’t pick up dog excrement when walking their dogs. With free bags and a waste bin literally 10 feet away.”
“Who will ride a gas powered scooter on a purpose built walking/bike riding path”
“Who will play loud music/videos without a headset on public transport. Including airplanes.”
Enjoy the countryside.
he thing I will miss the most is the look when I say I am from Baltimore. One time in Ireland I told some locals I was from Baltimore, and they did not believe me. They had seen the series The Wire and could not accept that I lived in what they saw. I showed them my license and some photos. They were terrified of me.
Well, that and your deep voice. 😏
Even though I don’t live around there anymore, Chicago went from:
“Ah, Chicago, Al Capone, rat-a-tat-tat!” (Speaker pantomimes firing a Tommy Gun)
To
“Ah, Chicago, Michael Jordan! Da Bulls, Da Bears!”
To
“Oh God! Chiraq? Chicongo? BANG-BANG!” (Speaker pantomimes firing a pistol)
The first time I was in Copenhagen, I experienced an eerie feeling the first day walking around the city. It struck me that the reason for this is the relative quiet. No one was shouting.
Gosh, I wonder what the big difference between Copenhagen, Denmark, and Baltimore, MD, USA might be? Must be the cold European winters. 😉
For the last week I have been locking doors after I pass, because it has become second nature at this point. Yesterday was a nice early spring day here in the hills, but leaving the door open to let the air in was too much. Instead, I opened the window of the office so I could keep an eye on things. Perhaps in time I will forget what it was like to live on guard every minute of your life.
Being born, raised, schooled, living and working around Chicago and Chicagoland I am stunned when I walk around my new neighborhood and see people leaving their garage doors open all day and into the evening, or kids leaving their bikes/scooters/sports gear (basketballs, footballs, etc.) lying around in the open. Pull that in places where I used to live (even “Nice White” suburbs) and someone would walk in and steal stuff from your garage or steal your kid’s toys. (I’m STILL pissed about the Big Wheel I lost when I was five. Stole it right off our driveway, the bastards! 😡)
Me? Everything is locked, even the car when it’s on the driveway and I can see it.
Something I am not sure I will miss is the general stupidity of the place. The best example of this is car inspections. When I moved to Lagos, I had just bought a new truck, but it was registered in the prior state. I learned I needed a safety inspection before I could swap plates. Getting a safety inspection on a new car seemed weird, but how long could it take? It took all day. The guy crawled all over the thing and even wrote up some things that came from the factory as questionable.
I asked the guy why he was doing this as in other states a safety inspection is just a walkaround to make sure every important bit works. The guy told me with compete sincerity that the cars were safer in Baltimore. He could have said it was the law or that his boss required it, thus acknowledging the idiocy of what he was doing, but no, he was fully on board with the policy. Baltimore combines the mindset of the postal clerk with the intellectual dexterity of the population.
One thing from Silly-nois I don’t miss is the stupid “Emissions Inspections”. Which are, at the heart of it, a kickback/slush fund for the state and repair shops. Not for nothing is the Inspection Station in Aurora, IL smack dab next to a repair shop that helpfully advertises they can “Help Fix Emissions Control Problems”.
Hell, as a teenager I figured out the scam. 😒 Your boy was looking for anything to send you to his buddy’s shop and someone would get some baksheesh. Besides, why hurry? He’s union, he gets paid one car or a hundred.
In closing, soon you’ll look at Baltimore as I look at Chicago: Returning there is like being forced to see an old girlfriend where the two of you had an ugly break up. Ugh, why bother? 😣 Hopefully unlike me, you don’t have family that continue to stay where you left and are obligated to see them.
Although roads go both ways folks. 😒
Much happiness and prosperity in your new home. And no getting back up on the roof!
Wasn’t there a quasi-viral video this winter of a jogger who found himself at a ski resort and struggled to comprehend the fact that white people left their skis unattended while taking a break in the lodge?
Me? Everything is locked, even the car when it’s on the driveway and I can see it.
A pretty good sign you don’t have good neighbors. In a decent community, you can leave your keys in the ignition where they don’t get lost.
Old habits die hard my friend.
I hear you. Took me a couple years after moving away from the Twin Cities. My son said the hardest part of moving away from home was remembering to take the keys out of the car and to check the doors at night.
When you make films/tv show in cities there is typically a police film/tv unit that is present on outdoor location shoots. On “The Wire,” that unit would tell the cast and crew that you must stay within a few blocks blocks during the shoot or else they could not protect them. I worked on the show once-location was the Inner Harbor-the stunt coordinator told me I was very lucky because that was the only safe and nice location they ever worked in. My Aunt lived in Bel Air, ~30 minutes outside of Baltimore and we’d visit every summer in the 60s-different time.
Bel Air is still pretty nice. It’s one of the few Republican majority area in eastern Maryland. I’ve been here for 25 years but won’t be staying after retiring even though the local government is decent. There’s simply too much control coming from the rest of the state for it to be able to maintain what it has.
West Virginia is probably where I’m headed as well.
Your tale of Baltimore makes me glad to live in Vancouver, on the Pacific coast of Canada. Here the big problem is the rains. For days in a row, off and on it will rain. Then — this is winter — it snows and the cars and buses can’t handle it. They will skid. For some reason, during the warm summer months, all the mestizos of Latin America come to Vancouver. Not the purebred Spaniards. Not the whites, El jefe. The prosperous half-breeds who work as foremen for their white masters. Their jibber-jabbering of rapidfire Spanish and exotic looks give me a taste of what it must be like to live in the Sun Belt.
It is a beautiful place to visit – have been there when there is zero sun for days on end – which I suppose makes one appreciate the contrast when it is sunny.
Always appeared to me the masters were of the…Oriental persuasion.
As to the masters, it’s a shared duopoly, Oriental/white. At the provincial level, the whites tend to dominate more. Don’t underestimate the tenacity of minority Whites to hold onto what is theirs.
Best of luck in the new place Z, hopefully the “wildlife” will keep at bay as long as possible. Is it true that they recently lengthened a stretch of interstate to extend out of the swamp and into your new home state?
Oh after a month or two you will.miss the smell of naggers. Just wait and see.
I live in Tampa in a fully Hispanic area. Even no English in Publix. I had a brainwashed freind of mine, not lefty but brainwashed enough say to me. It’s a hell of a lot better than living around blacks.
It must be the smell. You’ll miss it…
Z-Man’s parting message to the denizens of Lagos on the Chesapeake.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yL9Y24ciNWs
You forgot the /sarc tag, Z. Every one of those things you are going to “miss” after escaping from Baltimorgue is jogger-centric, but I admire your restraint in not mentioning the devils by name (or even by euphemism) even once, aside from referring to the place as ‘Lagos’.
We did not usually lock our house or our cars while living for decades on Long Island in one of the tonier, more secluded areas, for the absence of basketball-Americans was total. Now that we’ve relocated to a small town in Texas we are a little more wary, but it is still possible to leave things unguarded with some expectation of them not being spirited away in the night. For how much longer, Lord only knows.
Dunno how you endured that shithole for two decades. Talk about sleeping with the enemy! You must have had a target on your back every waking moment. The cacophony of noise – the shouting, the ball-bouncing, the tuneless rap shattering the stillness would have driven me postal.
Godspeed on your journey back to civilization.
Idaho, in the parking lot of Bi Mart, a car with the window rolled down, keys in ignition, purse on the front seat–and it was still there when I left 30 minutes later–Eagle Idaho is for the rich, Emmett Idaho is for the independent minded (Ammon Bundy lived there), Weiser Idaho is for welfare recipients. Fruitland Idaho is being massively “subdivisionated” (because of shopping and services available next door in Ontario Oregon) but its all off the back roads so you don’t notice it, farmers fields that last month had leftover potatoes and cornstalks in them are now being scraped down and readied for developer infrastructure. Avoid Lewiston Idaho, resident are being massively tax assessed for all new natural gas lines going in, and next door in Clarkston WA is major homeless area.
You need to do a follow up report in a few months on what your new neighbors think about “that single guy from Baltimore who bought the place down near Apple Holler”.
Despite spending all of my life visiting my ancestral family/ friends Up North, I’m still “Mow from Bug City”.
Be careful as you detox. Lagos withdrawl is real. 🙂
Ha, It’s no longer Lagos withdrawl., I’m looking foward to Z’s podcasts in West Virginia with “drawl”.
“swampy jungle”
Hence the swamp!
A song for when you’re feeling nostalgic about Lagos:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hz1orhaHPk0
This song works as well.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jR9_wbTrInI
I still remember that Z-Man quote — his answer to the question why he chose to live in Baltimore of all places.
“I wanted to get a sneak preview of what future America will be like.”
Twenty years is more than a sneak preview.
Damn near a full-on career in military intelligence complete with 20 year letter.
True but after college age, “temporary” places to live have a funny way of becoming longer term. Moving becomes more cumbersome and moving between countries and continents, as I know several other readers here have also done, is it’s own special kind of hassle hell
“The warm summer breezes, french wines and cheeses, put his ambitions at bay, summers and winters, scattered like splinters, and 4 or 5 years slipped away”
It’s how he was able to save for his ranch in the mountains and Arabian horses.
Hmmm, well, it seems to have been a case of a plethora of noggers. Another thing I’ve seen besides the shouting and the paucity of vocabulary is the use of laughter as a filler (among noggers, that is), reminiscent of the doctor in “Idiocracy.” In fact, it’s quite easy to gauge the calibre of a person not only by the content of what he talks about but by the range of his vocabulary.
Living among noggers is desensitising, no question about it.
You are a different sort, no doubt about it.
When in Bawlmer he was a horse of a different color.
I figured he was like the original Tarzan of the novels- the natives were either terrified of him as a demon in the night, or openly worshipped him as a sun god by day.