I'm PEEVED.

I've bit my tounge one too many times and remained dispassionate beyond disbelief. But this time things have gone too far. Way too often I hear young people in Spokane talking about their glamorous plans to move away. While sometimes this can be a good thing (especially for those who've not lived elsewhere) usually its just an unoriginal case of "the grass is greener" and a failure of personal strength and imagination to take ownership for one's hometown to make things better where it is most needed.

I know people don't typically choose to live somewhere out of charity, but if you give a shit Spokane is an ultra rewarding place to grow and thrive. Spokane strips away all the bullshit and the artifice and forces you to stay real. A lot of good can be done here without herculean effort. The whole city is an enormous blank canvas crying out for change. But that will never happen if our change hungry young people continue to run away to the hipper towns next door. It is time to reverse the flow and start writing the history we truly want for this place. 

I understand that the rough and patchy social environment in Spokane can be difficult to tolerate, but damnit while you are here live to the fullest of your ability! Don't shrink away from the general public to hole up in your apartment and complain, fight back and be outgoing! Surround yourself with like minded people - and they ARE out there - live in this city the way you'd live anywhere else. Make Spokane your oyster, or pine nut as it were. Like to go to dinner parties? Throw one. Wish someone would write you an ISawYou? Get busy with that email.

Too often I go to parties around the holidays and listen to people who've come back for a couple of days go on a tirade about Spokane. These weekender comeback kids have lost all credibility. Spokane is not the city you left after high school. Even if absolutely nothing had changed these whiners are pompous asses for being the driving force behind the very problems about which they complain. Knock it off, I don't want to hear it anymore. Roll up your sleeves and contribute to the community that raised you or SHUT THE HELL UP and we'll see you abou this time next year.

That is where I'm at. Spokane is a unique and mysterious place. It is underated and misunderstood. It has been abandoned by generation after generation of urban oriented young folk, so what the hell do you expect of it? Beat a dog and you will make it hand shy. I've lived here after moving back for college for the past 2 1/2 years now and I am done politely hearing people out. If you trash on my town in front of me you are going to get an earful. I don't care who you are, unproductive Spokane bashing disgusts me and I will not sit around and hear it anymore. Consider yourselves warned!