sjtwelve

growing up in bakersfield was strange, but i did not ever grow up anyplace else in a traditional fashion, so i really have nothing to compare it to.

poor air quality and the lackadaisickal agriculture hum drum always left me feeling like i was either light years ahead of everyone or far, far behind. it is the stereotypical sort of place where if you do not escape as soon as possible you could very well be stuck there for the rest of your life. it's the kind of town where you either love or hate your parents, where you'll either end up running the family business or burning it down to collect the insurance money. it is a place of extremes without in-betweens.

because of the lack of any indigenous culture, there has always been a thriving subculture just under the surface. back in the fifties the town was run by a secret society of closeted homosexuals... seriously. there have always been rockabilly cats, punker kittens, vato locos, opium dens, that sorta thing. i don't mean to sound so david lynch about the whole thing, but bakersfield's the sort of place where something is always lurking beneath the surface everyone to find or ignore.

once you understand that people are trapped there and don't really care either way about it you start to breath a little easier... just don't breath too deeply.

-bobby

[Edited on Jun 07, 2004 8:20PM]

i got an uncle who works up at one of the prisons, tehachapi i think. dad's all over the place... mom works in the big bank of america downtown (i think maybe one of the biggest buildings downtown period).

if you're in there and see a cute asian lady going out of her way to help people (namely those who can't speak english and little old ladies), tell her bobby says hi.

-bobby