Things I would miss, IF I was to leave West Chester

You know, it's an early Sunday afternoon.  The spring showers haven't come yet, a mild breeze flows through the open windows of the apartment, the grumble of the more and more frequently appearing Harley-Davidson passes by, and wafting through the newly leaved Oaks and Maples of West Chester is the lilting sounds of Irish Music.  Now it's true, we have an Irish Pub a mere steps from where I live, and occasionally, the sounds coming from there are no less as fine as to what I'm listening to now, but the source of the music in this particular case seems somehow a little bit more pure, and not sullied by the attempts of a money making saloon owner to draw in additional patrons.



Keegan, (age 11, on Whistles) and Alexander, (age 12, on fiddle) are simply playing there hearts out to raise money so they can go to Ireland to compete in a Irish Music competition this summer.  I'm not sure if I can say with any certainty, that at any given moment, somewhere in these great United States, some one, in particular a pair of some ones, more particularly a pair of young men someones, is out on a street corner playing beautiful music, raising money for a trip to represent us in a World wide competition, while at the same time adding to the ambiance and quality of life we enjoy here in West Chester.

I have very serious doubts, that if I were to live anywhere else in the country, say, Jacksonville, Florida for example, I doubt that I could open the windows to my place and hear the dulcet tones of fiddle and flute being expertly played just outside, and it is for that reason, and many many other reasons, that I would seriously miss, like SERIOUSLY miss the people and the place that is the community of West Chester, Pennsylvania.

If you are living outside of easy visiting distance of West Chester, I would highly recommend an evaluation of your life so much so that you might determine if you might be able to move here, I assure you, you wouldn't regret it...Oh, and if you hear them around town, can you throw them a few bucks?

Signs of West Chester

Hola Amigos....Let's just pretend that you're not wondering why I haven't posted a blog in over 2 months, and just get into it already, shall we?

(Boy I'm getting worse than Jim Anchower)

Anyway here we are, well into what is it, May? Crap! The year has moved along at a good clip, ain't it! And I'll be honest, I was kind of boycotting Blogging until the weather got better, but somehow, it managed to snow on April 1st, and we've had lot's of cold and rainy days since then, all the while the trees kicking in on the annual pollen pollution drive, so I've been out of it just trying to get by for a while. (Poor me, right? Yea, right as if I expect any sympathy from you guys...:)

When I finally got some time to walk around town, and the weather somewhat cooperated, I started to notice a lot of signs.  Sure, the signs of spring were finally here, like when the Cherry Blossoms fall onto parked cars along our borough's congested streets, but other signs too.

I suppose there is something about the skate culture that is more than prevalent in West Chester, that says you have to tag things with stickers.  Thank you Bam Margera, Shepard Fairy and Banksy for all that then. You know what I mean right?  You've seen stickers on signs all around town right? Like these? 

Don't get me wrong, I really don't have a problem with any of the stickers, it's part of our urban landscape, and heck some of the stuff is downright whimsical, like the ubiquitous STICKMEN in the street, but now there is Yawn Bombing, H/T to John Young for discovering this link.  I wish I knew what some of them meant, I have a hard time grasping the idea that someone took the time and trouble to silk screen some image onto some sticky sided polyvinyl to then post onto some random object in public only to perplex squares like me?

That's the mission patch for STS-95, the return to space of Astronaut John Glenn! I'd like to meet the nerd who put that there!

Of course there will be somethings I won't like, like stickers quoting Che Guevera, boy that's somebody's mug I sure could do less seeing of, but as long as there are clueless college kids with money, there will be his visage thrown into the faces of those of us with Cuban ancestry as a constant reminder of paradise lost. (Let alone of relatives lost to firing squads by his personal hand, but I digress.)

And yet these are not the only signs we see around West Chester on a regular basis.  Why just the other day, a lot of signs were seen at a rally to support education in Pennsylvania on the steps of the County Courthouse.  State Senator Andy Dinniman hosted the rally, with his dog a giant poodle for some reason.  I'm not sure if he couldn't get someone to watch the dog or what kind of image he was trying to convey here. (No, I'm not writing words dripping with sarcasm, why do you ask?)

Now I don't know exactly how one opposes supporting education, that's like being opposed to oxygen.  If there is a hitch to it all of course, it's the ability to afford it in a budget strapped environment.  We can have the most educated populace on the planet, but none of it is worth a hill of beans if we are an economic wasteland because we've defaulted on debt. I get it, really I do.  However amidst the hoopla, once again, there was another example among the signs that were there that seemed to have the sole purpose of vexing me was this one.

Was he being ironic?  Was he being allegoric? Was he being idiotic?  Was he just an asshole, I'll never know, I sure didn't want to find out what ulterior motive, if any, he had.

America, Fuck Yea

Circling the Wagons

Finally I figured it would be an interesting weekend to check out our 1 hour express war protests on the corner of Market and High in front of the Courthouse.  A lot's changed since President Bush left office, in so much that the population density of the protesters shifted from the anti war crowd to the support the troops crowd.  


I knew all along that there were few people on both sides truely commited to their ideals, in so much the anti-war group was really populated with anti-George Bush people, and right on que, when President Obama got elected, they were replaced with anti-Barrack Obama people.  I really respect anybody who really is for peace, but they got to be consistent.  That said, it warms my heart to see someone sending love towards a soldier and hoping for victory on the battlefield, but when the politics get involved, taxes, immigration, and birth certificates, it's such a turnoff.  All that being said, it was a weekend for the pro troops people, who didn't gloat or get any more jingoistic than usual, what with the very satisfying demise of Osama Bin Laden, they stayed on message.  So did the antiwar people believe it or not.  I think the few hard core peaceniks that are left have the honorable conviction of their feelings and are just wanting peace, and who can argue with that?