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Main Street?
Sep. 25th, 2008 02:32 pmI’ve been trying to avoid commenting on political stuff and how jaded I’ve become, much as I’ve been dying to rant about Sarah Palin… (Oops, that was close).
And then there’s our impending great depression. Aside from the worry I’m interested and excited to be watching what’s going on. It feels better to be working for the government, that’s for sure. We do live in interesting times. I’m paying attention, not in small part because my morning commute happens during the Marketplace report on NPR. Sure, I only spend 15 minutes in the car, but 12 of those are spent listening to Scott Jagow! Scott Jagow is my hero.
Aside from spouting opinion on the crisis, The Great Deregulator (Ack! There I go again!), or anything of any real import, I need to rant a bit about something that’s annoying me. This whole Wall Street/Main Street phraseology drives me a bit batty.
I know, I know, Main Street is supposed to be short hand for small businesses, middle class, America, Mom, and apple pie. But it’s an outdated phrase. Main Street isn’t Main Street anymore. Neighborhoods aren’t built that way anymore. Main Streets have disappeared in favor of sprawl and strip malls.
Main Street? Now, it’s more likely something like “Heather View Way”. (Who is Heather, and why are we viewing her?) Gah. I type that “made up” street name into Word, and it recognizes it as an address. Are we surprised? We have subdivisions, strip malls, and business parks, and few people do business on Main Street. We can’t walk to them, because we live in the ‘burbs. Not much is going on there, we’d rather spend our late evenings at Starbucks and Borders. A few people live on and near Main Street, but certainly not your average American. Not anymore.
And then there’s our impending great depression. Aside from the worry I’m interested and excited to be watching what’s going on. It feels better to be working for the government, that’s for sure. We do live in interesting times. I’m paying attention, not in small part because my morning commute happens during the Marketplace report on NPR. Sure, I only spend 15 minutes in the car, but 12 of those are spent listening to Scott Jagow! Scott Jagow is my hero.
Aside from spouting opinion on the crisis, The Great Deregulator (Ack! There I go again!), or anything of any real import, I need to rant a bit about something that’s annoying me. This whole Wall Street/Main Street phraseology drives me a bit batty.
I know, I know, Main Street is supposed to be short hand for small businesses, middle class, America, Mom, and apple pie. But it’s an outdated phrase. Main Street isn’t Main Street anymore. Neighborhoods aren’t built that way anymore. Main Streets have disappeared in favor of sprawl and strip malls.
Main Street? Now, it’s more likely something like “Heather View Way”. (Who is Heather, and why are we viewing her?) Gah. I type that “made up” street name into Word, and it recognizes it as an address. Are we surprised? We have subdivisions, strip malls, and business parks, and few people do business on Main Street. We can’t walk to them, because we live in the ‘burbs. Not much is going on there, we’d rather spend our late evenings at Starbucks and Borders. A few people live on and near Main Street, but certainly not your average American. Not anymore.
