Comments | luuuvuuul: take me home, country road.

luuuvuuul

take me home, country road.

Jul 26, 2004 18:05

i just got back a few hours ago from beautiful west virginia. you heard me. west virginia. where every waterway is named "Indian Creek," but you can still count a total of only four brown people after an entire weekend ( Read more... )

Comments 13

felicks July 26 2004, 15:49:49 UTC

It sounds beautiful.

I spent a couple months in rural South Dakota, and I was so conflicted by how warm and helpful - yet overtly racist and homophobic everyone was.

luuuvuuul July 27 2004, 14:29:02 UTC

oh yeah. it's very interesting to me how a place can be so beautiful and the people kinder than anyone you've ever met, but at the same time drive by trees and feel a chill down your spine because you know what they did/do at those trees. and the way some people look at you like "you better not come back here alone at nite" and you know that that shit is real.

we drove past a church that was having some bbq, and there was a lone butch dyke sitting in the parking lot smoking. and i just wondered what every day for her must be like - how closeted she is, if at all, and what has happened to her in her life in this place.

ascentintochaos July 26 2004, 16:56:52 UTC

man, i wanna go. and you're lucky to have amazing friends like that. *wistful*

so can i get your zine or what? :D

kisha July 26 2004, 17:54:35 UTC

I always thought W.VA to be a really beautiful, yet misunderstood place.

I'd like to visit one day.

luuuvuuul July 27 2004, 14:32:51 UTC

i think it is misunderstood in some ways. but i don't know much about it, really, and i'm guessing there's probably a lot more tension and violence under the surface that i'm not even aware of.

all i know is what i've seen just passing through.

luuuvuuul July 27 2004, 14:30:34 UTC

ok i finished the touch ups! let me copy it and i'll get it to you!!

you've convinced me furbetcha July 27 2004, 19:36:32 UTC

although i spent five summers in lewisburg so already know its awkward beauty. lovely account.

Re: you've convinced me luuuvuuul July 28 2004, 09:56:57 UTC

really!? did you have family there? that's so interesting to me... i think "awkward beauty" is a really good way to put it. especially being there and thinking... "i know some of these people would sooner kill me than look at me, but yet..." yes.

Re: you've convinced me furbetcha July 28 2004, 12:16:31 UTC

i actually went to all girls summer camp there. we had to cross the Greenbrier River on a "barge" to get there. it was very rustic. the strangest thing is that it was so isolated - the only times i left the camp were to go to this super posh resort with other people's parents and thus could only observe the abject poverty from the comfort of the car on the drive over. it was very surreal and there's so much left to explore. i certainly hope to get back there sooner than later. thanks for reminding me to do that!

Re: you've convinced me luuuvuuul July 29 2004, 06:16:28 UTC

word.

actually sleepwalks December 19 2004, 17:36:23 UTC

there is NOTHING violent about living in west virginia, except for a bar fight here and there. everyone gets along no matter what color they are because most everyone's poor. extreme racism is only around in communities deep in the woods, really.

that feeling of peace and tranquility sort of sticks with you and is there all the time. that's what it's like to live there. :)

oh yeah, and this is amber. in dawn's band.

Re: actually luuuvuuul December 19 2004, 20:33:31 UTC

wait, so are you from there? that's very interesting to me. i'd like to talk to you about it.

thanks for the tip about the violence. definitely going there with a big group of people of color is an experience, whether people actually want to kill us or not. maybe it's just that look like, "i've never seen so many non-white people together at once," or maybe it's just recognizing that we're not from around these parts, but some folks definitely know how to give the evil eye. but maybe what i'm reading as evil is just the way the locals express curiosity. i dunno.

anyway. yeah. west virginia. it's great.

Re: actually sleepwalks December 19 2004, 20:51:46 UTC

ahahaha. i'll talk about it all night. there are all kinds of misconceptions. i'm defensive.

and there are lots of people of color. :) if you're in the part of the state where people don't have indoor toilets, you don't see as many. :) maybe that says something about us white folk. heh.

take care ...