Seems like just a few years ago there was a line that went forever to see a new movie on the Plaza…
It was the EXORCIST. I was so excited to see it I went to the early show. Got the last ticket available, and made my girlfriend see the later show with my brother. Big mistake, I was so shaken by the movie, when I got home alone I put my .38 handgun on the table in front of me. Just waiting for my cat to turn his head all the way around and – bam! – the cat gets it!
He lived.
Yep, back in those days, a guy could walk to Volcker Park, hear a live band, smoke a joint – maybe even drop some acid. Have a nice fun little adventure, you know. Swing by Winstead‘s, get a cheeseburger, fries and a shake. Check out some hot babes in their mom’s convertible. Maybe get a phone number or two. Later that night – maybe after midnight – scoot down to one of those all night hot tea joints. More babes, more numbers, more music, more fun.
Never worried about DUI checkpoints – they didn’t exist. Or drive-by shootings. Worst thing you’d see was a fight now and then between long haired dudes over some hippie-looking chick.
Mothers on Main was brand new and the rumor was it was "mob" owned. So cool. Frank Sinatra Jr. was gonna open the joint, live. A new restaurant had opened on the Plaza called Houlihan‘s – lines to get in. They had to hire a doorman to check IDs and there were so many hotties. Talk of the town.
Summer dresses were everywhere. The smell of chlorine in the air from swimming pools. The Early ’70’s and Kansas City was on the move. The town was hopping.
Kansas City may have been the best kept secret in America.
The Royals opened a stadium club. Nice. And they were one of baseball’s best young ball clubs. By 1975, Westport was happening with new spots like THE NEW STANLEY and STANFORD AND SONS. Smell that flower pot bread right next to the old Manor Bakery.
Yes sir, there was alot to do and there were smiles on people’s faces.
We all had something to look forward to. If you had a college degree, you had a chance for a good job, ground level. Got an idea for a new business? With a good plan you had a shot to borrow some money and get it started. It was all happening, right here. Right in our home town.
The future was bright.
In 1983, hip-hop music hit the scene. The lyrics encouraged urban youth to hate whites, hit women, be gangstas and sling dope. You don’t need school, just words, music and hoops. I thought it was a passing fad.
Instead it’s already outlived hard rock and roll.
It was the beginning of the end for an America that was, well, kinda happy.
After hip -hop hit us in the face came the violence, like never before. Wild streets, gangs, dance clubs that always had death and stabbings after being taken over by angry, urban youngsters.
Today there is basically no dancing anywhere, can you believe that?
Well, almost none. Yep it’s over. No dancing, nowhere no how. Someone will comment about a place here and there, but are you kidding? IT’S OVER. No real nightclubs in this country, none, that includes Vegas, a few in New York, but it’s a shadow of what it once was…it’s over.
The fun is gone, replaced by danger and ‘staying at home.’
Next came ONLINE and the social network of the 2000’s. College grads, well, good luck on that job hunt. Banks loaning money for an idea, sure. That’s over. Live bands on the Plaza or anywhere else, over – with rare exception and street musicians. Too dangerous. A mailbox full of bills you never dreamed of; pay TV. No lines for any film ever. That includes AVATAR. Over. done.
Those passing smiles from other drivers have turned to road rage and "I’m in a hurry, move!"
I am glad you and I got to see the best of America, EVER.
Those days will not come again. The days of smiles and dreams and warm summer nights outside strolling the parks and streets of our once fair city. Gone.
So God damn sad, makes you want to cry.
The kids of today will never see or feel what you and I had. Lucky for us we got to enjoy all that.
No it will never be as good, ever. However there’s always the hope that in the future things will be somewhat better and Americans will once again smile.
Sure hope so.
No hope 🙁
I’m just going to go shoot myself in the head now. Thanks for saying what everyone knows but is trying to deny by alcohol drugs and in your case – cheap sex! Thats why we have the comedy channel on the radio now – because everyone is so depressed. I love that channel – the one time of the day I’m laughing and smiling. How did things get sooo bad so quickly? Well at least I had the 80’s. Those were some good days- lots of money, lots of fun and no terrorism, no worries, just good times!
WHATS THE PROBLEM HERE?
the world has changed. That’s what happens glazer. And we’ve gotten older so the
world seems in disarray.
Saw where best buy is going to shut down a lot of their stores.
Retailers are finding it nearly impossible to make money. Wal mart is shifting
all its resources to china for expansion there…they’re saying they can’t expand in
america like they once did…more profits in china and emerging nations.
The worst was that one of Ronald reagans advisors was saying this
is no longer the “morning” in america…it may be the sun setting in
america.
Wealth is moving from the western world to the eastern world.
Jobs are gone forever and they aren’t coming back
GM will drmatically expand in china and double their business there
soon.
And an aging america is going to bring the nation to it’s knees with
an explosive increase in government costs.
The stress of the world and whats happening in this nation is
taking us down.
The republicans and democrats can’t get together on the tiniest
measures to help the nation….the oil companies and wall street and
the towel heads are forcing gas prices over $4 a gallon for absolutely
no reason…and the politicians can’t understand why.
The big earners in america are getting all the breaks…just yesterday it
was noted they paid the lowest per cent of taxes in history…they’re
paying less and the other 99 per cent are going to have to make up
what they aren’t being charged.
GE paid zero in taxes on 14 billion in profits. The ceo of cisco says theres
2 trillion dollars in cash that was sent to overseas banks to avoiid being taxed.
The man said allow the corporation to bring it back to america at 5% tax
if they invest it in america. Yea right…invest it in their bank accounts and
personal savings.
The middle class is dying. The earner aat the top have devised a way to take
every last cent from the few dollars they have left. If its not at the gas pump
it’s going to be with inflation in groceries and clothing.
MSNBC and Fox News are doing their part also. They know if america is
split between left and right… arguing and fighting each other that we’ll never
know who’s screwing us over and if we ever came togetherwe would throw
all the clowns (republican and democrat) out of office.
The world has inded changed.
The politicians want us all to believe the teachers/fire fighters/police/government
employees/nurses/doctors caused this great recession. They had nothing to do
with it…it was the cheats on wall street/the banksters and the politicans who turned
their head. We have in the government over 500,000 employees supposed to watch
out after our financial system…and not one of them spoke up when they knew full well
the housing bubble was going to collapse.
People don’t communicate anymore. I see kids who don’t talk with eachother…they
text and play video games all day.
And the changing demographics of the nation. within 10 years in over 20 states
minorities (hispanic and black) will be the majority population. One political
analysis says barak obama can get 5 per cent fewer white voters in 2012
and still win the election because of the huge increase in hispanic and black
voters where he’s getting huge majorities (70 per cent of the hispanic/98 per ceont
of the black)…he’s a shoe in for reelection.
Once white bastions are now multicultural areas…nrothern johnson county is
almost 60 per cent hispanic…olathe has 50 per cent hispanic population.
The banks have lied and cheated us…the major corporation have stolen our
monye and sent our jobs overseas.
No longer is music developed from the ground up…its devised on american
idol. No more record stores…everythings online.
The world has changed…and its never coming back.
Accept this but get ready for the revolution thats coming.
The 98 per cent of americans are about to realize that we’ve been screwed.
They will evnetually awaken and find the money’s gone…the future was stolen
from us…and the crooks and politicians fucked us.
It’s not going tobe pretty but until citizens see whats going on and act on
it…..we’re headed toward a sun set in america.
aND ONE OTHER THING…HALF THE MEAT AND POULTRY
in the stores is contaminated with staph/e coli/salmonella?
Great…be sure and cook it all well done to protect our kids from this
crap. Where’s the corporations who are putting this meat out..
why is this happening….and the republicans want fewer government
regulations on these companies…are they fucking crazy.
Reduce the regulations and every pie ce of meat is contaminated.
Aren’t we paying the government billions to protect our food system…
where the fuck are these people.
Oh I know…they’re falling asleep on the job like the air traffic controllers!
Hate To Hear It
I try not to think back to those days. I’m in my forties and yeah its tough today. Best part of that story was reminding me of what was, it was pretty nice. This didn’t have to happen. But neither did World War Two or the depression. It just happens and the world is never the same.
About the only thing that’s still affordable in this country is the food and Harley’s joining the wacko crowd claiming it’s all contaminated. 99.9% of the food in the U.S. is safe and incidents Harley refers to get blown out of proportion. Do you think farmer John with a horse-drawn plow is going to be able to feed 9-billion people?
A lot of the rest of what you say I agree with. I can’t figure out Glazer. One day he’s a playboy the next he’s an old man whining about the”good old days.”
You’ve got your dates wrong
Not to nitpick, but the 80’s were considered the Golden Age of Hip Hop. Run DMC, Kurtis Blow, The Fat Boys, Whodini and Doug E Fresh were what Hip Hop was all about in the 80’s. Nothing about hating anyone. It was fun music and is what started the break dance craze. (The movie Breakin’ came out in 84.) What you are talking about didn’t start until the early 90’s with the likes of The Chronic by Dr. Dre in 1992. That was considered the beginning of gangsta rap. I’m a 40 plus year old white man, I just used to listen to that type of music in High School and college and hated it when it did turn to that type of music.
“Murder Was The Case That They Gave Me”
I believe Snoop had this hit “Murder was the case…” in the 80’s. It started our less hateful you are right, but it was always there…”bitches,ho’s,pigs,being kept down,slinging” it got worse in the 90’s your right. In the end it excussed blacks from education, working in the mainstream, it pushed being a thug, which in the majority of America, they are. No not all black people, but way, way too many young people. My friends that teach say 80 per cent have zero interest in class, just yelling to their “bro’s” is all. The hallways are battlefields of armed security and police. More than anything this attitude stunted the growth of young black Americans, it encouraged the hood life in the poor hood and to stay there, accept it, embrace it, which has happened. Almost NONE of the slum type areas are safe or cleaned up, including KC, the failure of Mayor Cleaver. and crew. ” 18th and Vine shows us that the adult blacks who want little to do with the thug rats are in the minority. As someone who has put on comedy concerts for this nicer crowd in KC it is very small, very small a few thousand. Tops.
As stated the internet took down white America and its still killing us. Not done yet. This is not about me getting old, this is about what I see and know. So do you. People don’t talk to each other anymore do they. Most top jobs have been ruined by the Social Networks….not needed anymore. The future is working in a cube online. LIke that? I don’t.
quick timeline
NWA’s first album was released in 1987, and that was more or less the start of gangsta rap. It got bigger with each NWA release (group or solo – Ice Cube left the group in 1990) and got absolutely huge with The Chronic in 1992. Murder Was the Case didn’t come out until 1993 on Snoop’s debut album.
1994…
one quick check on the google machine and/or wikipedia is all it took, murder was the case – 1994. just sayin’…
nwa came out 1988-89 and may have been the start of the gangsta rap genre, but my fingers are too tired to do any more typing for fact checking.
old people are weird.
Harley – usually enjoy your comments but have to call you out for this one.
“Once white bastions are now multicultural areas…nrothern johnson county is
almost 60 per cent hispanic…olathe has 50 per cent hispanic population.”
http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/20/2052575.html
Last year census has Olathe with 5.4% Latino or Hispanic origin.
Let Me BE MORE ClEAR
google bordello person, the story was not about Snoop it was about how things were better a few years ago. They were.Hip Hop culture of the 80’s/90’s was the killer of night life and safety. Cause Blacks with an attitude killed about l0,000 people since and scared the shit out of white America. Got it? Old people, well yeah I’m in my 50’s but likely could kick your butt and take your girlfriend. Hows that? I like how when someone is cornered its “your old” “get up with the today” I am dick jack. I was one of the people who kept night life going in this city and still do. I am on the newest and hottest comedy acts there are. My job. No I am not a rap..hiphop shmo, like you. Hey if you like it fine. Don’t see too many ‘best of CD’s from rap or hip hop” just saying. Oh now you will name all six right.
Again my point was clear horrible behavior by Blacks, no education, online/network have led to the main reason our nation is not what it was, nicer. Here take this one, I wouldn’t say if I was in my 40’s or 50’s back in the 70’s “boy were the 40’s and 50’s great or what…America was not as nice back then..cars were shit,music was decent, nightlife not as well produced, housing and comfort were not at the level of the 70’ and 80’s, they just weren’t. So no it was not better back in those days.
tmsaab…you’re right
its about 10% of olathe populatoin….but 7 out of eveyr 10 new residents in kansas since
2000 have been hispanic…
we may see joco turn into a democratic county in the next 20 years…..
it could happen……..
and if you’ve been to oak park mall or driven thru op you know diversity is
coming big time to these areas….
Go away
Not sure what you’re problem is that you can’t find shit to do in KC now. Maybe you should consider moving somewhere more befitting your lifestyle and education (Volcker? Really?) – like prison. I’m sure you’re just another DUI or drug charge away. Old people who live in the past are just sad. If you haven’t found anything of value in the past 25 years, you won’t any time soon. Just give up. Take that .38 and just end it – what’s the use, really?
Outside of prison or death, I’m having trouble identifying what could actually help your situation.
Never Said I didn’t have Fun
Ross, again you must be reading something else. I said it was better. Not that I don’t have fun or didn’t since. Likely more than most. Prison had some good adventures believe it or not. I’d say I’ve had a pretty full life. This wasn’t about me really. It’s about the downsizing of fun and smiles. Simple as that. Your response was not exactly with a smile Ross…road rage, kinda. I’m sure you know best though.
fight!
google bordello person, the story was not about Snoop it was about how things were better a few years ago.
– I know, I read it.
They were.Hip Hop culture of the 80’s/90’s was the killer of night life and safety. Cause Blacks with an attitude killed about l0,000 people since and scared the shit out of white America. Got it?
– Yes, I understand what you
Well taken google
OK now you have made a good point. Thank you, you are right on that issue. Yes.
Something Stupid
So the point of the piece is that KC was cooler back in the day and one of your key examples is that Frank Sinatra JUNIOR! played a gig somewhere? If you’re going to the go talent-lacking 2nd-generation route, Garry Lewis is a better choice–at least he had a couple of hits–all Francis Albert Jr. ever accomplished was getting himself kidnapped.
Is this Better
Jimmy Hendrix followed our first big arena concert. The first one was, rock that was new and hot, Paul Revere and The Raiders, yep. Then Jimmy Hendrix latter that year Led Zepplin, happy now?
10 % my ass in Olathe
I disagree with that figure has to be higher tham that. The Mexicans have taken over Olathe. And go near a Quick Trip around lunch time out there and if your white you are a minority.
glazer
I graduated high school in Overland Park in 1988. It was the tail end of the good times. College was a blast but the political correctness that has in part taken away a lot of the fun had made serious inroads on campus. Back in 1985 or 86 we had parties with 200 or 300 people in the middle of a neighborhood in Lenexa or O.P. and as long as nobody called the cops, they left us alone. Everybody there was drinking underage. If you were only a few blocks from home and got pulled over and had been drinking the cop told you to go straight home. Now, get caught drinking underage you go to jail. Five cars parked at a house? Cops knocking on door to see what’s going on. The country is gripped in fear being led by two incompetent parties whose only goals are to get re-elected and to sell out to the highest corporate bidder at the expense of America. Yet they keep getting elected. The insane cost of college is producing generations of indentured servants. People in debt make great employees for corporations who pay less taxes than a social worker or a server. I myself work two jobs trying to get out of debt so I’m one of those people you rarely see out on the town anymore. I ask my gun-nut buddies who arm themselves in part to defend against a tyrannical government what the hell are they waiting for? I for one have seen enough tyranny. And if you think I’m talking about Obama, I am. Him and every other worthless politician, no matter what letter is behind their name. For those of you who think Craig is just getting old while that may be true, he is correct in saying people had more fun back then. Lastly, I know an amazing amount of young people who do not like music from their own generation but like the 70’s and 80’s. When in history has that ever happened?
I wouldn’t be younger if I could
You are correct, Craig: We experienced the height of American consumer culture and American freedom. DUI roadblocks (still unconstitutional, I say! Thanks, GOP voters for that SupCo majority.), drug testing, the Internet and the resultant death of the music industry have been major killjoys.
No Doubt
Glazer got it on the dime. Rap, internet,no new music, doomed the laughs and smiles today. Tragic.
“Look at Ashley’s First Communion pics.” Turning the blessed sacrament into a sideshow. “Just ran five miles today.”
Shitty moms and dads, getting on FB and creating NOTHING but drivel. Portraying themselves as happening people. Working 38 hours a week and expecting 100K minimum. Creating nothing. Building nothing.
You want to help a teacher? Let them teach your freaking kid. Holy crap. Parents are at school all of the time. Do you think the Chinese are at their kids’ schools… Hell no.. those fifth graders are learning calculus… leave them alone..
Kansas City is Wimpy… Dudes wearing Callaway ballcaps and sandals… Heading over to Johnny’s South… for some Teriyaki South of The Border Eggrols and some Bud Light… But only have two beers… I gotta be home because my wife has a landscaper coming over. Women are growing biceps and balls. Men are buying Viagra and getting manicures.
Guys in Johnson County thinking they are slumming …. living on the edge… because they know an Italian guy… or go down to Waldo on St. Patrick’s day.
Cops are even weirder now. They used to be big bad sons of bitches with sideburns and big forearms. Their guns were never drawn because they would break you in half. Now they are a bunch of short skinny guys with psychology degrees from KU… raised on video games and watching their moms verbally abuse their dads…. so they played Black Ops all day and they are trigger happy little dorks trying to hit on court clerks and writing DUI tickets.
Guys like cats now. Women like dogs.
Why stop pretending now?
Honestly, KC already sucked in the 70s, so my family left. Hard to think of any town outside Detroit that wasted more time and real estate in the 60s, 70s, 80s and early 90s than Kansas City. Think of all the rot that piled up by 1996. Union Station. Downtown. Parts of Wyco. Westport. Brush Creek. Everything east of Troost.
Great big chunks of this town are in the best shape they have ever been in. Beginning with the 50s floods, this town fell into a deep, deep economic hole, people fled the city (the suckers got no farther than Johnson County, and the rest of us went to Denver) and it’s barely beginning to climb out. Maybe acid made things seem a little better in the 70s, but that was an hallucination.
But what else ruined this town? Not the Internet. Air conditioning. It made the fountains passe. We don’t know how to enjoy the outdoors in this town any more. Summer nights back in the day were hopping. Liberty Memorial didn’t close its grounds. The fountains worked all over town. The heat drove us from our homes and into the parks and fountains. If it weren’t for air conditioning, none of us would be on facebook in July. See what I mean? So everyone just needs to unplug their air conditioners, and Kansas City will be wonderful once again.
Jeeezzz …..
Reading all this stuff actually makes me feel pretty good about my life. Thanks guys!!
I’m with Cliffy
Yeah, life ain’t so bad!
KC isn’t Excitement Central, but it’s far from dull. I can’t remember the last time I was bored here. If you can’t find fun things to do, you’re not trying hard enough. Sure, we see all of KC’s warts and flaws because we’re immersed in them every day, but you’d find them anywhere else you’d move.
You’re an idiot
How can you blame hip hop for the downfall of Kansas City? Do you know anything about this city? People were happy in the seventies when they were waiting in line for gas or terrified of the Soviet Union? Or how about the most violent era of our city’s history in the late 70’s that blew away the River Quay district and made people terrified to go out, leaving the area deserted until recently. This deserted area is now host to… LIVE MUSIC? How about a show June 3 that sold out 10,000 tickets in less than a day? There might even be…. DANCING!! You should come, it would probably be the first time you’ve been out of the house since those damn blacks scared you into your basement in the late 70’s. Kansas City isn’t dying, you’re just an old, ignorant, racist bastard that can’t handle the fact that the world isn’t exactly the same as when you were cruising discotechs in the 70’s with a cocaine-infused mustache trying to find a girl to date rape. Get a life.
KC Sucks because it does…
I have been to alot of cities in the United States and overseas and KC is nice for 1 thing – raising kids. That’s it. There is nothing here. No mountains to climb, no oceans to dive, no national parks. Thats why we were one of the top cities who gained weight this winter- because the winters are horrible here and there is no reprieve. I lost weight because I was lucky enough to escape this hellhole for awhile and go to Arizona. Climbed a mountain every day I was there- some easy some incredibly hard. There was never a moment I wasn’t outside doing something. There is nothing to do here except eat and go to bars. Really. I have lived too long here. It is time to move and I hope I have the resources to do it. Because KC sucks. The people here are great because I think we suffer so much were nice because we are used to being depressed. Hope I make it out!
MERMAID…PROCEE WITH CAUTION….
arizone is nice 7 months out of the year…but may thru october…watch out..
the weather will kill you…too too hot and noone goes out…
you need to settle down with a good man…find someone and not on match.com
send me a note and I’ll tell you where to go.
You’re attractive…smart so why havent you found the guy?
If you want to do all those things like dive…climb mountains…spend $200 to
get to those places…because i have friends in phoenix…denver…
atlanta…new york….l.a…and they all have some good points but youd
probably hate living there…
come on out with us sometime…theres some great secrets and great people
in kc…..don’t leave…please.
NOT ‘RISE & FALL’ – RATHER, A ‘PROGRESS TO DECLINE’
“I wouldn’t say if I was in my 40’s or 50’s back in the 70’s “boy were the 40’s and 50’s great or what.”
– since you were not, how can you say what you ‘would’ or ‘would not’ have said/felt?
“America was not as nice back then.”
– “anyone who speaks for or in the name of others is always an imposter” – EM Cioran. Indeed & to wit, I find myself interested in/attracted to even those times/things were long before I was.
“cars were shit, music was decent, nightlife not as well produced, housing and comfort were not at the level of the 70′ and 80’s, they just weren’t.”
– evolution (too) as it were? Now you’re just sounding silly, stupid & desperate. To borrow from a great ‘old timer’, “well, there you go again.” – Reagan. More of that one size fits all ‘impostering’ Cioran warned about. It follows that you sound like an guy believes mutt ca$$el is also better than Len Dawson – and by far, if your proprietary preferences are to be believed… they are naught.
“they just weren’t.”
– based on your callow writings, you aren’t old moreso ‘wise’ enough to compare. Though you admit to being a quinquagenarian, you look older than this sexagenarian, even though your ‘takes’ do not reflect said.
” So no it was not better back in those days.”
– it was for me… still is as in ‘it’s always ‘yesterday’ at my house. Those who say you can’t go home again have bought the lie…they’re speaking for just themselves. Cioran never spoke for others, but he did advise: “what I know at 60 I also knew at 20. Forty years of a long, laborious labor of verification.”
Though the calendar flips a person does not have to, just due convention. Where does a being’s ‘happiness’ lie? Where the heart is… and so to each their own. As Lt. ‘Hunter’ said, “works for me” – a Harry Callahan ‘dinosaur’ as it were. I exist in the present, just don’t live there… my preference. Everyone is not as ’emancipated’ as they imagine their march a progress to decline.
The preferences I employ: a 60’s style ranch home, late 60’s/early 70’s autos, choice in entertainment – while I own a television, it is but to view kinescopes/other mid to late20th century/earlier recorded material. The degree to which I ‘sell out’ is via having replaced typewriter, snail mail & newspaper subscription with computer internet; that I do so grudgingly is the truth, for the day is coming and already here to a great extent one cannot happily live in this ‘modern morass’ otherwise, a toilet taking everyone down in it. Records, 8-tracks, cassettes – a rotary telephone, by choice (save a ‘tone’ handset necessary to conduct business this parasitic world choking itself into asphyxia.)
I’m being facetious? Hardly. No, I’m not joking, nor was say Ted Kaczynski who took his preferences to extremes, not unlike you CG by condemning to death yesterday. And what of tradition(s) – any? Passe? “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it” – Santayana. He also said, “only the dead have seen the end of war”. And I say, obviously we have learned nothing…we are still dying, daily.
Coiffure, attire – these and more I do NOT to be different, an exception which I likely am – but because truly, save far & few between ‘advances’ as it were, you ALWAYS necessarily lose something GOOD in the transfer. Cioran concluded, “progress is the injustice each generation commits with regards to its predecessors.”
Internet paper may not be limitless, but my desire type is.
Experience is calling… answer.
Harley is nice?
Wow Harley I don’t know what to say – you have stumped me beyond words.
You Can Always Go Home Again
I didn’t think this piece would get much comment. I am pleased that it did. First off I love my hometown. Yes I am pissed that KCMO has fallen so hard, Pissed that urban trends destroyed nightlife(by the way nobody argued here it didn’t so I will take it you all agree), and the online/social network did its damage. As far as other times and places Kerouac did make some nice points, no I wasn’t around in the 40’s and saw little of the 50’s. Maybe we are all loyal to our times and places. Like some of you I lived in other cities, Pho. and LA. I enjoyed them both, however home is where your heart is and looks like I felt best in KC. As some of you wrote, there are still some great things in this town and more coming, who knows one day it may all be great again. Like I mentioned, THERE IS ALWAYS HOPE.
Well put Craig
I as well have traveled around but I call KC home and really do like it here. I do enjoy visiting other places but am always glad to come home when the visit is over.
Life was Good
I totally agree. KC was great as a child/adolescent. Growing up in the late 50’s – 70’s, it seemed like every year things got a little bit better. Dad got a raise every year (ONE job from WW II on..), crime was something that didn’t affect your every day life, drugs were around but not prevalent and didn’t lead to danger, the standard of living seemed to rise with each turn of the calender, you could walk somewhere without considering any consequences…leave the house unlocked while you left. I believe my generation post WW II will be the best of all times. It’s sad because I have children who will need to face our present situation and I’m scared for their future.