Anyway we were at this place one evening just killing time, enjoying our surroundings. It was getting late so I took my headphones off, packed up my computer and got ready to go. Well, when I took my headphones off, I overheard a conversation happening at an adjacent table. i only caught a piece but the gist of the conversation was the same old tired, "we just need more people to move into the city and talk about what a great place it is..." or something to that effect. The first thing that came to mind was "No fucking shit!" and a string of terrible thoughts about what a brain-dead fool this fellow must be to have just recently came to this realization. More than likely this guy was just as smart as anyone else you would meet or have a casual conversation with, I just had the bad fortune of hearing this little inane bit that really, at this point ought to be assumed and therefore not even needing of mentioning. Ever again. Ever. Because IT"S NOT GOING TO FUCKING HAPPEN! At least not in the numbers needed to make any significant difference.
I used to be idealistic and say "Oh, St. Louis is going to be just like Seattle was in the early-mid nineties, we just need like five to ten years." I realized a little while ago that I've been saying this for... wait for it... five to ten years! and I would venture to guess that we'll need... five to ten years to actually achieve this. I used to give my friends all kinds of hell for moving away or expressing any kind of interest in moving away, but now I totally get it! If you want a career, an actual career in say, film, music, art, software development, you something really cool, get the fuck out! Now. Run. Go. Faster. Finish reading this when you get somewhere that people give two shits about any of these things. It's cool I'll wait...
Here's the thing. It's not even that there aren't people that "care" about the aforementioned subjects. There are. But usually (I will be making broad generalizations quite a bit, though I don't think anyone would argue their truth) they care more about who the people involved in these things are and what kind of shit they can dig up, hold against, etc... This is very important. For those of you that need it spelled out, it goes like this: Often people involved in these professions are typically more concerned with if they LIKE that person rather than if they make good work and have the tendency to confuse the two. You don't have to like someone to like their work (Re: Roman Polanski, Phil Spector, Ike Turner, this could go on for a while). You have any idea how many complete assholes are in this city who also happen to be really good at their craft? Answer: Lots. How awesome would it be if all these assholes worked together rather than talking about what an asshole so-and-so is (and therefore they suck at what they do, of course). Who cares work with them. Call them out on being a prick. If enough people do they'll either go away or stop being a prick.
Here's the sad truth (at least about music): The only way people are going to listen to you is if you are in a cover band (Dr. Zhevegas, who will hereafter be referred to as Dr. Shitheap) or they can confidently wear tie-dye and patchwork corduroy to your shows and talk about how awesome Phish is. Dr. Shitheap is super popular and they actually make money. I mean fuck, they even opened a restaurant some years back. Any musicians making a living who do not fall into the Dr. Shitheap or Phish-phuck categories raise your hand... I didn't think so.
And you know who's to blame for this?
All. Of. Us. Yeah, me too. But also you. Yeah, you.
We are all complacent. We don't support shit unless it's our friends, we don't explore. We find our little corners of the city and talk about how much the rest of the city and all the people in it suck and then bitch and moan about how much it sucks that the city isn't in better shape... Fuck. Us. We deserve it.
Possible topics for next time:
- Why Ladue is a cancer on this region
- What to do with your money
- Why the RFT sucks
- Why anyone in the county has no business in a "how to make St. Louis better" discussion
- How to approach friends who have moved out
Yes, I am bitter,
Bye
Your point, as I read it, is that it is very easy to leave and go somewhere "better" but very hard to stay and try to make St. Louis "better". And I'm totally guilty of taking the easy route. Maybe it would have been different if I was in the Arts; I don't know. As a software guy, doing the sorts of work that I want to do, there just aren't any jobs in St. Louis. I had two options: one was to move to Seattle or San Francisco which is where the action is, the other was to try to build the industry myself in St. Louis. It's really not practical to do the later.
ReplyDeleteA long time ago Stanford helped build the virtuous entrepreneurial start-up and VC ecosystem in the valley, and they have sustained it for a long time. As much as I would love to have founded the next Microsoft in St. Louis, I didn't have the money or the ability to get the money, or the ability to get the people, or really any idea how to go about it. It's a chicken and egg problem that can only be solved, sometimes, by someone ponying up the cash.
I don't think you can be 100% grass-roots. Sometimes it takes an Institution, like Stanford or BillG's dad (to loan him $300k). You have to build a culture that values these sorts of things. It starts with properly funding education and goes from there, but you have to get universities, businesses, city planners, etc, involved to.
If my current start-up works out, let's start a school.
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ReplyDelete...or they can confidently wear tie-dye and patchwork corduroy to your shows and talk about how awesome Phish is
ReplyDeletePainfully true. Hilariously stated.
Damn us for perpetuating this madness!