3/22/15
Epps, Louisiana (Poverty Point State Historic Site)
What is waiting just around the riverbend? It is a question everyone has asked
themselves, anyone who was too afraid to ask out his/her crush, to take the
risky job offer, to make a new friend, or to embark on any dangerous adventure. The answer to those questions is waiting just
around the riverbend. The few times in
my life that I have looked around the riverbend, asked out my crush, pursued a
new friendship, or got on a plane to Iran, have all come with a familiar
sinking feeling.
It is a matter of
inertia. Once I uttered the word, “Emily,”
I knew the rest would follow. Once I
invited my new best friend to hang out with me for the first time, to come to
the Met with me, I knew the rest would follow.
Once I got on the bus that would take me to the plane to Iran, I knew I
would not turn back. In each case, I
found out what was waiting just beyond the riverbend. It just takes so much effort for me to make
that first step, and I have a feeling that that is not unique to me.
While asking out the cute girl in my
philosophy class is one thing, what about having to uproot your life and truly
find out what is waiting just around the riverbend? To answer that question, we must turn to the
other of the two great atrocities committed by the European settlers to the new
world. I explored slavery in the
previous entry. Here, at Poverty Point,
one of the largest extent Native American burial mounds in the country, I will
focus on that topic. Slavery was the
worse evil, since it deprived the slaves of their ability to think, to make
choices for themselves, I think, but this was also terrible.
The European settlers practically exterminated
an entire race, and we continued to make and break promises to them. For what?
So that some people here could live in small beat up homes along a
highway? Are they any happier than the
Native Americans we found here used to be?
No, of course not. They found out
what was waiting just around the riverbend.
The answer was the destruction of their culture. In its place, we have what is now called
“white trash” or “hillbillies.” However,
I encourage each of my readers, if he or she believes that something positive
is waiting just around the river bend to find out what lies there.
As for the adventures of today, well not much
has happened, but has happened quite interestingly. I woke up, got dressed, packed, had breakfast
like normal. I then walked to the State
Capitol, Huey Long’s Monument, which is the tallest Capitol in the country. I went to the cigar and lit up an old
Churchill as I drove to Poverty Point, my only stop for the day other than
lunch/dinner. I had an epic bathroom
emergency, and I’m still trying to decide if it’s Official, but certainly was
epic. Afterwards, I lit up a
Fuente.
When I finally got to the World
Heritage Site, I saw it, the Plaque. I
also saw something else. I had a
flat. I asked the ranger what to
do. Theoretically, I know how to change
a spare tire. In practice, I don’t trust
myself. He said there was nowhere close
enough that would be opened today. I
asked if he could help me.
He said he
would. I took care of my business at the
VC, went back to find him, asked him to take my picture at the plaque, then we
went to the car. He actually had an air
pump, and, surprisingly, it held pressure. Brilliant. I did a loop of the
mound and then went back to the main mound.
I lit up a Cohiba, walked to the mound and back. I then got my laptop and sat on the bench
with an amazing view of the mound, where I proceeded to write this entry, which
I will now close, as I’m in a bit of time crunch if I want to stop for dinner.
Jackson-Medgar Wiley Evers International Airport, Mississippi (JAN)
When I closed, I said that I was in a bit of a time crunch if I wanted to catch dinner on time. Well, two things changed. First, the restaurant I wanted to go to was closed on Sundays. Second, my JAN-ATL flight got delayed, which meant that I would miss my connecting flight to LGA. The email said they would rebook me. I figured that there was a 6 AM flight ATL-LGA that would get me to work on time. I was right.
I stopped at Popeye’s for lunch, thinking it would make a good Now and
Then Facebook post. It was my first
Official meal in Louisiana two years ago, and now that I had completed
Louisiana, it would be my last Official meal. Wait, I hadn’t said “Louisiana Complete” yet, forgetting to do so at the
WHS. I said it right there and then at
the restaurant. Hmm, what now. I stayed in the car for a bit and lit a
Santana. There was nothing to do but go
to the airport and make sure that I was on the 6 AM to LGA.
I got an email. They had rebooked my entire itinerary for
tomorrow, which would mean that I would have to spend the night in Jackson, and
I would not get to LGA until noon tomorrow. No, no, no. That wouldn’t
work. I called Delta, and the agent was
very helpful getting me on the flights I wanted. I stopped for gas and headed to the
airport. When I got to the airport, the
ticket agent told me that Delta would put me up for a hotel. Well, that was a lot easier than spending the
night in the airport smoking lounge. He
also told me where the smoking area was outside. I headed out there and proceeded to write
this entry.
I’m not sure where I want to
go with this now. My original plan was
to do this Jackson-Evers entry and then do the reflections/close at
Hartsfield-Jackson, but everything has changed now. I need to do an entry from the hotel, but I
want it to be a short one, since I’d rather just watch Pocahontas or play my
video game when I get to the hotel. I’ll
need my sleep in the morning, so the one from Hartsfield will probably just be
perfunctory to close out the trip. I do
have an hour to write now, so I guess I might as well do the reflections now
and just use the other two entries to close out the trip.
Earlier today I wrote about what is waiting
just around the riverbend. What I did
not mention is all the times that I did not realize that something I had wanted
was truly just around the riverbend. All
the times I thought something was out of reach, whether it was a crush, a trip,
or what have you, how many of those were just around the riverbend? Most of them?
All of them? What would have
happened if I had opened my mouth and said hello to my tenth grade crush? Would what I desired at 16 have come
true? Was she just around the riverbend,
or was she an ocean away? I’ll never
know. Along those lines, I received some
kickback for how I said that I was no closer to achieving my dreams than I was
at 16. The common thread was that I am a
different person than I was at 16. Yes, that’s
true.
However, at 16, all I had to do
was ask my crush out and see what just around the riverbend. At 27, right now in my life, I still do not know
what’s just around the riverbend. I am
more practiced at dating and more comfortable in my social interactions than I
was a decade ago. I am more mature. I would make a better father now than I would
have then, of course. As for the career,
sure now I would make a better employee than I would have then. That was not what I meant.
What I meant was that I don’t see the dream
career/wife/child just around the riverbend.
Of course, if I find the dream job or girl, I will be more suited to
pursue it/her. That was not what I
meant. The thing is, we don’t know
what’s just beyond the riverbend. The
dream girl could be sitting next to me on my flight tomorrow morning. The dream girl could be the next girl I
message on JDate. The dream job could be
someone who reads my writing and wants me to publish something. It could be just around the riverbend, but I
do not know that.
That is why I said
that I was no closer than I was 16, when I dreamed about, at this point in my
life, being a math professor at Princeton and married to the girl who was
sitting next to me in my Spanish class.
Hmm, were any of my Facebook friends in that class? If so, is their memory good enough to figure
out who I mean? Yeah, actually a few
are, but I doubt they are among my readers.
Okay, enough on this thread.
Whatever lies just around the riverbend I will find in due time. For now, I will reflect on my “winter” of
travel.
I believe when I reflected on my
Summer of Travel it was after the Colorado trip. That was a great trip. The trip to Andorra, not so much, and I
included the Utah/Idaho trip in my photos for Summer 2014. I will start my reflections with
Jamaica. I will not mention my
travelling companion for that trip.
Since then, over the course of four months, while I smoked my Christmas
Pipes, I have seen a great portion of the world. From Flushing, New York to Greenbelt,
Maryland, to Goshen, New York, I have seen the great, ah, who I am
kidding. I’ve been to India, the
Caribbean, Mexico, Argentina, Belize, and bloody Antarctica. I smoked a Cuban cigar on the Antarctic
mainland!!! How many people have done
that?
I have pretty much replaced my
entire travelling kit, my suitcase, my water bottle, my suit, my phone. I love the new suit and water bottle, but I
miss the old ones. I also miss my blue
suitcase. The new black one is so
boring. While the scenery in Mexico, Buenos
Aires, Belize, and Jamaica was familiar to me from my previous travels to the
North American Tropics (yes, reader, I know Argentina is in South America),
India and Ushuaia were both foreign and familiar. India reminded me of Iran, and Ushuaia reminded
me of Juneau. Was Antarctica as amazing
as Alaska? I don’t know. Was Belize better than Bermuda? I can’t say.
I did not know just how enchanting New Mexico was.
Where am I now? Oh, right, Mississippi. I had forgotten. This is familiar to me. “The Boondocks,” they call it. It is easy to look down on the kids as they
tell stories about the fights they fought and the girls they slept with, but
are we any better than them? Is this all
they know? Would they not give it all up
for a chance to move to the big city and work in an office 300 feet above the
ground? I just want to relate one story
that really bothered me. They were
talking about a mutual friend, and one person said that he heard the guy had
raped some girl, and another person said he heard the same story with another
girl. One of the guys then said
something to the effect of, “Yeah, I could believe that about him.” Another guy said something like, “He’s my
bro, but if he does that again, I’m going to beat the shit out of him.” Seriously?!?
This was how they handled rape accusations in Mississippi? If that was how they really thought about it,
then, yes, we are better than them (not, Mississippians in general, just that
group of kids).
The world is a strange
place, and different cultures appear strange to people from other cultures, but
two things are never okay, no matter your cultural values: slavery and
rape. In short, no matter what, the
initiation of force is never okay. The
European settlers might have seen the Native Americans as ignorant savages, but
who was the savage one? Pocahontas, who
lived at peace with the earth, or Captain John Smith and his men, who used
slave labor to colonize the New World and used force to displace people from
their homes? Reader, I think the answer
should be clear. On that note, I’ll
close until I get to my hotel.
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