Safety Town

After having moved here from the murder capital of the U.S. I am a bit jaded. A guy came to our house the other day looking to sell a security system. I almost laughed in his face, but that wouldn't have been polite... then today we called the water company because we hadn't had a delivery in quite a while, and they asked where a "safe" place was to leave our water if we weren't here. Seriously? We live in lily white land.

It's really dry here. Dry people, dry land, dry music... I guess coming from a place that is surrounded by water and full of angst to a place surrounded by land and free of angst is an adjustment. My neighbor used to be the lead singer in a band, and he gave me the CD to listen to. The lyrics were so white bread and rhymy- good music, but no soul, no depth, no spontaneity. I'm not knocking it, don't get me wrong, but there is something to be said for a bit of soul and water in your music.


The Mississippi River certainly lends a lot to music, as does the Gulf of Mexico... I do miss the water, but there is so much other stuff to love about Iowa that I can take a break from it for a while. Why wouldn't I want to live where people leave their cars RUNNING in parking lots? Where people don't think twice about leaving their kid in the car in nice weather? In Louisiana both your kid and your car would be gone in the blink of an eye.

There was a guy who was breaking into houses and assaulting people. 5 assaults in 5 months. The police found out where he lived, and that he was from Missouri. They got a warrant, said he had a gun when he approached them, and shot him to death. No one blinked an eye here. In New Orleans there would be a full investigation into the police officers who shot the man, allegations of racial profiling, probably a dead cop, and a free suspect. Not here- amazing how the world works.

Life is very different when you aren't the minority anymore. NOLA is 70% black and Iowa is 10%. I still don't see how Iowa gets selected for the caucus. I understand that the demographic break down is supposed to mirror that of the country- BUT I have lived in 4 other states where the demographic break down is very, very different, and the states are run completely differently. So what about those states? I guarantee you if the caucus was in Louisiana you would have a completely different set of candidates...