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The fact that the GOP and their religious lampreys really do not know what “woke” actually means and their applying the term to things they demonstrably have no real knowledge of says more about themselves as it becomes clear that they really have no understanding of that of which they speak and that which they condemn.

In the 11th Century a pope, the only leader of Christianity until others saw there was money to be made if they could attract the right crowd into the pews that had, hithertofore,  not been church-goers because of all the rules and fanciness, declared that cats were Satanic, resulting in a chain reaction that produced the Bubonic plague because for 100 years the people in Europe killed the cats who had been controlling the rats and with them gone, the rats multiplied like rabbits and increased the plague bearing flea population whose food supply had been greatly increased thanks to that religious leader.

Not really understanding their own model’s teaching, religious leaders and the supposed secular ruling class, many of whom never lived long enough to see the damage their opinion caused, went further basing religious teachings and secular laws on their opinion and their understanding of reality whether or not they did the research to see if they aligned.

This in our time has led to condemnations of candy, potato based toys, or any toy someone can think lewd thoughts about and then claim everyone thinks like that so no one should have certain toys.

The latest target is Legos which can basically be made into anything in a child’s mind or an engineer’s bout of ennui. They may come in a box with directions on constructing a specific thing like a Star Wars spacecraft, but over time these will join all the other blocks and extras and become part of something completely different than originally intended, yet still remain Legos.

The Fox Channel had just barely recovered from those earlier assaults on God’s divine plan when it came to M&Ms and potatoes when it found yet another attack, this time in the form of Legos that in the original packaging, the only time the pieces will look like what’s on the box when the directions are followed before the pieces joining the Great Collective, because the company has introduced characters with a range of identities and personality traits.

It could be one of those negative things about Socialism, but the Danish toy company introduced new characters that include characters with anxiety, are differently abled, and have Down Syndrome.

During the report on this national crisis, one of the Fox panelists showed he and others speak on topics of which they have no knowledge, attempting to connect this assault with their other new national crisis, Drag Queens, and, in the process, showed he had no idea what Drag, an art form where members of one gender DRESS UP like those of the opposite generally for performative purposes whether that be as in entertaining of other on stage or entertainment of self as walking into a room the right way and carrying off the persona for hours is a performance in itself, actually is about.

If Ambrose Bierce chooses to entertain as Rhonda Santus, he can only carry on the illusion if he remains dressed. I once saw a Drag Queen perform a very introspective song and while doing that acted out going to the dressing room, taking off the Drag, and then silently turning off the light as he walked out. It was a very powerful moment as his Drag persona was important while performing, but as himself in street clothes, he was of no consequence.

However, outside of this performance, Drag Queens do not sashay onto the stage glamorously dressed and remove clothing so the audience ends up looking at a naked guy or one in a G-String.

Yet the fox commentator who wanted to show he opposed “wokeness” and what comprised it attempted the connection by saying, 

“What’s so fascinating about this story is the divide in the country. Republicans think it is insane that they are forcing identity politics into Legos. Democrats are upset they didn’t make a drag queen stripper.”

These two things to anyone who knows anything about Drag are mutually exclusive. A man (or woman in the case of the heretofore ignored Drag King), does not spend the time it takes to transform from Ambrose to Rhonda just to walk out on stage and take it all off.

I knew a Drag performer, “female impersonator” being the more socially “acceptable” term, who in his younger days in a conservative Christian town had the time of toned athletic body that allowed him to perform in the local strip clubs as a woman because he would only take off so much and get the audience hot by having them wanting the more they would never get because that one more removed article of clothing would have had a man standing on stage and he was a female impersonator. 

His audiences never knew.

I remember when advocating for the addition of “sexual orientation“ and “gender identity” in a school district’s policies on bullying, harassment, and discrimination, while anything related to all other categories that students fell into were educational concerns and needs, when those that related to the Gay Students were brought up they were dismissed as political issues.

I was once accused during that advocacy of actually being a Straight person attempting to gain notoriety by advocating for a hot button issue I knew would get media attention because I neither looked nor acted Gay. 

Dismissing something as merely political was an attempt to justify ignoring it, and the Fox personality who obviously has no idea what Drag is all about attempted to do just that by stating,

“The reason they force identity into toys is because they think identity comes with a built-in political orientation, and that’s what they’re after here. I’m not having it.”

Because just like with the Gay students, the existence and the needs of people who play with Legos who experience anxiety, are differently-abled, and/or have Down Syndrome are purely political and, therefore, should not be included in boxes of things that have yellow flat heads, claws for hands and, as some kid will ensure by proper block usage, multiple breasts. 

Having a Lego figure that is blind is just a bridge too far. 

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Because the various industries housed in cities of the past throughout Massachusetts, cities like Lowell with cloth, Brockton with shoes, and New Bedford with whales, brought prosperity not only to the cities themselves, but the surrounding areas and the state as a whole.

Eventually when these industries died off as whaling did, or moved to more advantageous and profitable places as the cloth manufacturers did, the strong economy went away too, leaving behind depressed cities and economies. These smaller cities were the anchors of regional economies around the state, but with the moving of production, the change in products and production, and cheaper labor overseas they have been dealing with the social and economic challenges while still having many assets that could be utilized and built on to bring the city back

These cities, whose hey days have been long over, have been designated Gateway Cities and the leadership of these cities entered “a compact to unite their administrations in future efforts aimed at economic and community development,” asserting their desire to work cooperatively to address issues of common concern.

To do this there are those who are in on the plans from the beginning, charting the course of the rebirth, and, having the advantage to not only control the plan, can adapt their personal advantages according to knowledge as yet unknown to the general public.

They knew where the train will be going and where the profitable properties will be along the tracks and could use that for their personal gain with no competition from those not in on the planning.

In cities anywhere in similar circumstances, the desire is to take “gateway cities’, however they are designated elsewhere, and bring them back to what they had been as far as economic power and quality of life making them Class A cities, an idea in and of itself a good one, but it is, however, in the fulfilling of the dream that a good idea goes bad.

Gentrification is good if it improves the quality of life and the economy of those living in a city while expecting new people to arrive.

Gentrification is immoral when it relies on removing those who live in the community so they can be replaced by those whose only purpose in the community is to bring higher paychecks and disposable income as opposed to those who are already there because it is their home.

My building and the mistreatment of the tenants is emblematic of the problem faced by people in the city, largely invisible to those not directly affected by displacement. It happens and no one notices, which is a good thing for those who will reap the benefits only if things are kept out of the public eye so no one could object until the unstoppable motion has begun.

When a city leader revealed he was aware that a 24 apartment building was being sold and knew it six months before tenants were told not only that it had been actively on the market complete with the time for price negotiations, but that it was sold and they had 30 days to uproot and relocate, competing for the few affordable, available apartments with the people from those 24 apartments and those from other places so emptied, and upon reaching out to city hall for help those tenants found there was nothing organized by the city to aid those their plans were displacing even as they knew displacement is a by-product of gentrification and knew it was coming, there are questions

A class-A rating is another way of saying leadership will not be happy until the city is too expensive for present residents, just as organic in the supermarket means high prices.

If you see a city as only brick and mortar and a source of income and personal profit for those in control but ignore the spirit of the city is in its people, then you have what we’re having- the removal of people who stayed with the city and kept it alive so they could eventually get moved out to make room for more desirable people.

I was in my building seven years, and quite a few repairs may have been well intentioned by the building manager, but they were kept to the easiest and least costly until certain repairs seemed to be getting more serious attention, assumed by the tenants to have been done to improve their present environment only to realize these, like their uninformed continued occupancy of the building helped get the seller a higher price than the buyer had originally offered.

I suppose the assumption will be that, when the building I had been in but from which I was kicked to the curb, as all other residents had been, is finally remodeled into luxury apartments, we, the displaced, will be happy for those people who can afford the rent and see city pride in that.

Sadly, in spite of speeches about city pride and the greatness of its people, those in the position to do so will change all that in a heartbeat for the sake of the plan and the pockets.

It is wonderful to show the world how much improved a city is and how welcoming it is for those they hope will move there while those in charge of the rebirth bask in the glow of praise, but it is disgusting that those who had lived there get to see the wonder, not as residents who live in the improved city, but as visitors seeing what others got because they were run off. 

So, too, it is good that the Gateway Cities that were the economic powerhouses and the gateways to all those immigrants who were the workers who made them so and who produced the profits from overseas commerce those cities benefited from, are being reborn.

It is far from good that to have this happen to present residents, many the descendents of those immigrants who made the city, must just go away.

In addressing the needs of Gateway Cities, people on low income, seniors, and renters need to be considered as citizens and included in plans accordingly.

Otherwise, what should be a Gateway City will continue to be a Get-away City. 

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