Flyover Country: Arkansas

I had a conversation at a bar in Prague once about who was the better kisser: Bill or Hillary? The consensus seemed to be Bill. At heart Bill is a people person, he liked to enjoy life without consequence. He had his cadence and spoke in a sweet southern rhythm only topped by George W. He had an effect on people, it’s no wonder he had affairs. A romantic, he didn't marry for love, but for his commitment to public office. He tried to do good and mean good. A socialist in sheep’s clothing, he was left to hang in a hostile takeover, like a marshmallow hung over a neoliberal flame. 

Don’t agree with me? Travel to his home state, Arkansas. Long-forgotten by Washington, owned by Wal-mart, and barely on the globe. It’s a place where a man can still make a living.

Go to the northwest corner. A place where Walmart, the family-owned grocery mart from Bentonville, a small, poor redneck town, became the single largest employer in the United States. The home state of Tyson Chicken, a butchering company worth over $30 billion that owns one quarter of all meat processing facilities in the U.S - responsible for many of the FDA’s health and safety code violations and regulations alike. Driving through the area often smells like chicken-shit. Farms with huge, several football-field-long tubular containers housing chickens and pigs, are densely located in this area. For a rural area, it’s quite thriving. A place where rent is $1200 per month for a two-bedroom apartment, and the average salary is over $55,000. 

Visit the humid air. Enjoy the BBQ. Marvel at the nature. Pay $2.80 for a gallon of gas. Indulge in the basement bar happy hour, $1 beers and $2 margaritas. Celebrate the Fourth of July on a Lake flooded by the remains of a prison, steeped in the history of Jim Crow. Then go on a haunted history tour of a plantation, it’s a bit dedicated to kids but the actors are passionate, really passionate. Sing along to the live performance of Dixieland Delight in a southern crowd.

“Spend my dollar”

“On beer”

“Parked in holler ‘neath the mountain moonlight’

“Roll Tide”

“Hold her uptight”

“Against the wall”

“Make a lil’ loving”

“All night”.

“A little turtle divine on the mason-dixon line”

“Fuck Auburn”

“Fits my Wife”

“And LSU”

Oh so right

“And Tennessee too”. 

Relax. Adjust to the pace of life.