Uh oh. Trouble ahead for Tom Low's "Keep Charlotte Starched" (admittedly tongue-in-cheek) campaign. My colleague Jeff Elder reports from this weekend's Charlotte BarCamp 2 that folks in attendance wanted to start a Make Charlotte Weirder movement. (Of course, Little Shiva beat everyone to this, several years ago, with her WeirdCharlotte.com site)
So, what will it be? Weirder Charlotte? Starched Charlotte? Do we burn the khakis or starch them? Wear jeans instead? Starched jeans?
Which city is starchier - Charlotte or Atlanta? Where does RDU fit in this spectrum? Weirder than Charlotte, more starched than Austin? My two-cents: We should try to shoot the moon (card-playing term, folks, not a NASA attempt) and aim for San Francisco-level weirdness. What with Wells and all.
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10 comments:
Charlotte can be both weird and starchy. The best cities are both. There is starch, even in San Francisco. Of course, we're heavy on the starch. Bring on some weird.
Some cities, try as they may, never leave their starch roots.
Jacksonville, Indianapolis, Milwaukee, San Jose, Ca., Birmingham, Al, Ft. Worth, Tx, etc. They are what they are-starchy places.
We use to have two "weird", what I would call vibrant, decadent cities in America-San Francisco and New Orleans. Katrina destroyed New Orleans and the over gentrification of San Francisco destroyed the fabric of that city. Now both are neither weird or starchy. Just tragic.
Atlanta is more weird than Charlotte. Although Charlotte has changed quite a bit over the last 15 years.
everybody is weird.
'll take it that the previous poster chooses starchy.I
You don't have to be big to be weird. Charleston and Savannah have plenty of weird. Although the tourist industry in both places works hard to turn their quirks into safe, mundane tourist attractions.
Asheville is about as weird as it gets. And it's right here, in North Carolina.
We should...aim for San Francisco-level weirdness.
Which version of San Francisco? The late 60's version, with throngs of ne'er-do-well kids showing up expecting someone to provide them with a hot meal and free dope?
Or the late 70's version, where the sainted Harvey Milk was palling around with Kool-Aid sous-chef Jim Jones?
The one where bathhouses and similar establishments were kept open after the onset of the HIV epidemic because to close them was counter to the sentiments of sexual liberation?
The one where public policy deliberately conceded pubic spaces to the homeless and drug addicts?
Or the most recent one whose self-righteous smugness was so brilliantly lampooned on "SouthPark?" (Well, this one would be superfluous - we already have Dilworth.)
This is a conformist city if there ever was one, run by developers. Listen to Charlotte Talks today. Very little spontaneity if any. The entire vibe of the city would have to change and I just don't see it happening, ever. Even people who move here are more of the same. Its just not an inspiring place for individuals, the so called weird are just trying to seperate themselves. But nobody is daring here. Its a good thing H. S. Thompson wasn't here when he did himself in, he might have taken a few with him. Some of you know what I mean.
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