Howard Finster Day

 

Wednesday, February 3

 

Free

 

I got in my car and drove to Summerville, Georgia,

for Howard Finster Day.  I was free.  I also used to go

to the Gwinnett County Mall and browse for books

in a Border’s.  I didn’t know that meant the end of’

the last good independent bookstore in Atlanta.

Gas was cheap.  Atlanta had the cheapest gas tax

in the state.  And the worst air pollution.

The worst traffic congestion.  Getting to

the suburbs wasn’t fun if you had to

do it.  Twice a day.  There and back.

Home is the hunter, home from the hill,

and the sailor, home from the sea.

Home has names like Apalachee Ridge Estates.

Expressway West Manor Mobile Home Estates.

My estate.  My estate was I rented an apartment.

At least I didn’t own a house.  That’s a whole other

hustle.  A whole other racket.  A swindle.  Worse than

the car.  Worse than the stock market.  A depreciating asset

is not an investment.  It’s an expense.  A tax.  In

a home-ownership culture.  Find out what the culture is,

and screw them before they know what’s happening.

The business of business is culture.  One easy monthly payment,

through the nose, as Tom Waits says.  Have you had it in an olive,

the oral polio vaccine?  The good news is you don’t have polio.

The bad news is you have simian immunovirus (SIV) and

an epidemic of soft-tissue cancers.  See Dr. Mary’s Monkey.

 


 

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