though jumping straight into the action is way cooler, introductions are what I write. and what better (read:contrived) start than explaining a suitably obscure blog title. a couple of weekends ago was a dry run on the bike to central ontario and back, full of aaron-on-a-motorcycle firsts. 200+ mile days, highway (I-75 to detroit -- rain, construction, uneven pavement, sarajevo potholes), 80mph, riding onto a ferry, and finally a forced ride through a driving early morning rainstorm in order to get back in time to teach a class on monday morning. on that last kinda miserable stretch (annoying only because I was worried about packed stuff getting wet...the rain itself wasn't that bad) in ohio I passed through the whistle stops of siam and attica, separated by just a rural mile of SR4. neither stood out in any way, but that on a rural route in ohio I was in siam and attica in the space of two minutes...this is what the trip is about. an only-in-america sort of thing (Greece you can go from greek to bulgarian to albanian village in quick succession, but that's different), but more exciting is imagining how some pioneer/homesteader/community settled on 'siam' as a likely name for a crossroads in the northwest ohio flatlands. siam! I'll wait for the resident ohio historian to correct me, but the possibilities are endlessly amusing...a reference to the silk road? antipodal estimation? optmistically exoticizing the prairie? renamed with yule brenner in mind? attica is less interesting in the welter of greek/trojan/roman names that litter the victorian midwest hinterlands, but which toponym came first? rivalry? jokingly contrary? anyway, there wasn't a shred of evidence that either community has held onto any particular related identity, as is the brutally homogeneous nature of the midwest (all the small town festivals outfitted with the same rides and the same italian sausages and funnel cakes and elephant ears and walking tacos and that reference only in passing the apples or the pretzels or the fall colors that headline the gathering). this is what I'm looking for. american whimsy and dulled memories. not the idealized 'backroad america' of the imagination but the clashing individuality and indifference of real communities. places I've never seen before and around which I'd never plan a specific trip. arkansas ozarks and the ouachita nf, sprawling gridded oklahoma, west texas, nevada other than the colorado river-destroying monstrosity in the desert. meandering nowhere in particular, turning off on roads that lead who knows where. stumbling into county fairs and festivals that look redundant but are the big thing on the calendar and full of stories that I can't hope to glimpse as an outsider.
so siam to attica. there's more on that score for another post, but for now, full disclosure on the long-provisional name for this...freedom overspill. as much as I lovelovelove the idea of referencing steve winwood, let's face it: steve-o shucking and jiving to synthpop really won't resonate with any who weren't 13 in 1986, hoping that the girl of his dreams would drop out of the sky at geek camp. and that somehow the lyrics to valerie ('come and see-eee me...I'm the same boy I used to be') were relevant. that and the title sounds stupid anyway except in a way-too-self-conscious (and militant?) 'I'm reveling in my late-30s decline, so what's it to you?' vibe. but for those children of the 80s -- and no it doesn't count unless you were pubescent in the 80s -- keep it (and winwood's feathered locks and skinny ties) in mind. him and huey lewis. and perhaps bryan adams. I'll stop there. but for charlie daniels fans 'uneasy rider' was a sentimental early favorite (and had strong backing from the p-ridge posse), but at this point I'm neither uneasy nor queasy...far far too smoove.
