There's a lot of hate for the suburbs in Rochester. As a suburb-dweller, I'm not especially surprised by that, and sometimes I share the feeling. But I think a lot of the hating that goes on misses the target.
Now hate, by itself, isn't the problem. Even though it's gotten a bad rep lately, good old-fashioned hate has often been a positive force in the history of our misbegotten planet.
No, the real issue with suburb hating in Rochester is that it takes a small distinction -- where you live -- and focuses all the hate on that distinction. The result is an emotion that doesn't get anything accomplished.
To see my point, I want to look at two songs. The first one, "Mississippi Goddam" was written by Nina Simone in 1963. There's some good hate here -- angry, defiant, and funny. It starts like this :
The name of this song is Mississippi Goddam
and I mean every word of it
Alabama's gotten me so upset
Tennessee made me lose my rest
And everybody knows about Mississippi Goddam
The words alone don't do this song justice: you need to hear the contempt and despair in Nina's voice when she sings it to really appreciate the depth of her anger. Because what more can you say about Mississippi in 1963 than "goddam"?
A good, angry song like Nina's naturally inspires others. 40 years later, a Canadian group, The Hidden Cameras, released their third album, "Mississauga Goddam". The title cut lays some major hate on Toronto's biggest suburb:
Mississauga people
carry the weigh of common evil
And go about their lives
to whisper and go on
in Mississauga goddam
Mississauga skyline
is filled with the shadows of the powerlines
The garbage in the fields
could build a mountain to the moon
in Mississauga goddam
Here's what the author of the song, Joel Gibb, said about the place where he grew up: "I don't like the political apathy that places like Mississauga represent, especially through the way they are designed [...] It's a city that has zero appreciation for aesthetics, for community, and for people. When I walk around Mississauga, I feel nothing. It's all superstore complexes built for people who own cars, and I don't own a car. "
Everything he says about the appearance and politics of Mississauga is true of any suburb in Rochester. But it is a long way from suburban sterility to "the weight of common evil". Political apathy and zero appreciation for aesthetics are certainly not a uniquely suburban trait -- if they're the basis for common evil, then that evil is shared by more than just SUV-driving suburbanites.
As for community, in the years that I've lived in Rochester's suburbs, I've been surprised at the depth of community that isn't apparent on the surface. There are clubs, leagues, fests and neighborhood groups, just as there are in every city and small town that I've experienced. Life doesn't end just because you live at the end of a cul-de-sac.
So, back to hate. The suburbs, with their yellow-ribboned monster trucks, chemical-doused lawns and sterile megamalls, are a big fat ugly target. I could (and sometimes do) spend weeks pissing on the institutions of suburbia, for many of them are truly vapid.
But, after I get a real good hate-on going on some suburban topic, I have to acknowledge that the thing I'm hating is not confined to the 'burbs. Because the suburbs are just America magnified. Pick the thing you hate about the suburbs -- politics, aesthetics, waste -- and you'll find it everywhere else you look.
Goddam, indeed.
