Today's the day!! In about 12 hours, I'll be on my way home, wheels-up from MIA (I feel as if I've been MIA from my family for the past month...). To say that I'm excited about going home would be something of an understatement. It's been an interesting month, but I haven't seen Susan in 30 days, I haven't seen Eric in 2 1/2 months (and let's not forget Adam, who's back in Carbondale- I miss my golf partner). It's time- it's beyond time to go home, actually. As if there were any lingering doubt about leaving, my allergies have been getting progressively worse. I'm not sure what I'm allergic to, but I won't be sad to leave it behind.
I've enjoyed my time in South Florida, but I've seen enough of Miami, and I've seen enough to know that living here would drive me right over the edge- unless I was independently wealthy and all I had to worry about was making my tee time.
So what lessons have I learned in my time here? Well, this might be a good one to start with:
In a hurricane, there's no safe mobile home: It sure sucks to be poor, doesn't it? Especially as you're watching your domicile being reduced to scrap metal by 140 MPH winds.
The amount of money floating around the Miami area is absolutely obscene- even worse than Houston and Dallas- particularly if you happen to hang around Star Island (yeah, like you'd ever get access) or South Beach. Parts of Miami should be enshrined in the National Historic Register as monuments to conspicuous consumption and the complete absence of a social conscience. If you want to observe the disparity between "haves" and "have-nots", this is where you want to be, kids.
Storm deals economic blow to Cuba: $1 billion: You know, it REALLY sucks to be poor, especially when you're living in a Third World country and your government actively conspires to maintain your poverty.
Hurricane Charley hit the southwest coast of Florida, less than three hours from here, and it hit VERY hard. Things could have been worse, however- you could be living in Havana and STILL be without electricity. Apparently, Castro's Socialist Paradise doesn't deal well with emergencies.
3 of 4 accused in kill-Castro plot fly to Miami after pardons in Panama: And they will probably be hailed in Little Havana as Heroes of the Cause.
Anything that happens in Latin America reverberates quickly throughout South Florida. Nowhere is this more true than in Cuba, which is only 90 miles from Key West. Politicians here ignore the Cuban vote only if they are planning on committing political suicide. Doing so will guarantee you a short and unpleasant political career. Of course, catering to the Cuban vote isn't always the safest route, either.
Bill punishes Cuba travellers.... Cuban woman ships herself to Miami in a wooden crate: When she crawled out, her first question was "Where's the bathroom?" Her second was "Where can a girl get a Big Mac 'round these parts?"
Of course, sometimes it's just a matter of perspective. Living in Miami would drive me nuts, but if you're trying to escape from the Socialist Paradise that is Castro's Cuba...well, let's just say South Florida probably very closely resembles Capitalist Paradise.
There are many people here who have endured the almost unimaginable to make it to Florida and freedom. They have risked life and limb, sometimes leaving their families behind, in order to find a better life. How can you not admire that kind of determination? How many of us would be willing to take those risks?
Miami man armed with machetes subdued with electric stun gun: Now THIS I can relate to. Driving in this town can be a homicidal-rage-inducing experience.
There is much about Miami that has a "8 lbs. stuffed into a 5 lb. sack" feel to it. I grew up learning how to drive defensively. Here, the theory seems to be that the best defense is a good offense. Survival of the fittest...kill or be killed...dog eat dog...however you choose to refer to it, you drive the streets of Miami at your own peril. Good luck, y'all....
The thing that I've noticed, even above and behind the "Death Race 2000" nature of driving here, is that people are just plain rude. It's not that people here are malicious or mean-spirited, but they are so slef-absorbed and so wrapped up in their own little world that nothing else seems to register. I'm generalizing, of course, but there is a lot to this. It became particularly clear when I was in Minneapolis-St.Paul this past weekend. People there are, by comparison, so amazingly polite that it's almost saccharine. The difference between Minneapolis-St. Paul and Miami is like night and day. Again, this generalizes horribly, but the Twin Cities are very laid back and easy-going. Miami is frenetic, tense, and uptight. That's probably the best way I can find to describe the difference between the two areas- and the differences are pronounced.
You can see it in parking lots and grocery stores, where people will simply stop whatever they're doing to take care of themselves. The fact that their actions might be inconveniencing or aggravating someone else seems to not even register. And they seem genuinely perplexed when you call them on it, as if they can't begin to comprehend what you're talking about. After all, they're just looking out for #1, the same as everybody else. It's just part of the culture.
I suppose part of the problem here is that you have so many people in such a small area. Combine that with the cost of living, brutal traffic, the heat, and the political climate...well, let's just say that the tenor of life here is a bit more high-strung than it is in Houston or Minneapolis-St.Paul. I suppose some might lay that to the Latin influence, and there may be something to that. Things DO look different here, no doubt about it. It's a different world, like New York with a tan.
More Floridians living in poverty, without health insurance according to Census
More Floridians are living in poverty and Escambia surpassed Miami-Dade as the state's poorest county.... Median home's cost tops $300,000 in Fort Lauderdale: This is NOT a cheap place to live. The cost of living here is significantly higher than it is in Houston. Yes, there is a good deal more conspicuous consumption in evidence here, but it also takes a lot more money to live here.
The thing that really surprises me is that, even with as much money as is floating around Miami, Miami-Dade County is one of Florida's poorest counties. That should tell you a lot about the vast disparity between rich and poor in this town. For every Shaquille O'Neal buying a $20 million mansion on Star Island, there a probably a hundred Cuban refugees working minimum wage jobs, living in shacks, and driving '83 Buick Regals with bald tires and cracked windshields.
I've enjoyed my time here, but I miss my wife, my family, I miss my dog, and I miss my cat. I'm tired of waking up alone, and I'm tired of being someplace I can't call home. It's time to go. Besides, THE RADIO STATION IN THIS TOWN SUCK....
