It was this post about Shafter on the occasion of the 2006 football game that caught my eye.
But it all seems wrong somehow. There is a vulnerability in these words, a kind of desperation, a cry for help. Resentful accusations of snobbery are a rival's last effort to rescue some dignity from certain defeat, the recourse of history's losers. I had no idea that things had gotten this bad. It is a little sad, frankly that a once worthy rival is talking this way. And now I feel a little guilty about this and this. I swear I didn't know.
Look, Wasco, I've been around a while. There is a time-tested way out of this funk. Simply put, you need to find a town that you can get snobby with. When Angelinos get down about their misfortune of booming during the worst architectural era of American history, they remind themselves of Bakersfield and feel better. When Bakersfieldians start to feel bad about being picked on, they say "Shafter! Now that's a backwater" and smile... and so on. You get the idea, Wasco. You need to find your Buttonwillow.
You guys'll get your swagger back. And look at Pixley over there. See? Feel better?
The Wasco / Shafter rivalry manifests itself in many ways: politically, economically, academically and socially. The Shafter people tend to have a higher view of themselves and their community than do others in Kern County. Shafterites just have an air of superiority about them that rubs most Wasconians the wrong way. They think their schools are better, their churches are better, their lives are better and so on.You may have noticed, dear readers, that I sometimes make snide remarks, especially about Wasco. In that spirit, I am tempted to say something about Wasco's own record of grasping for greatness, perhaps noting the curb and guttered weed patch of a would be golf course retirement community, the perpetually broke and over-reaching city government, the circulation of football coaches quickly deemed unworthy of the Tiger tradition, or something like that.
But it all seems wrong somehow. There is a vulnerability in these words, a kind of desperation, a cry for help. Resentful accusations of snobbery are a rival's last effort to rescue some dignity from certain defeat, the recourse of history's losers. I had no idea that things had gotten this bad. It is a little sad, frankly that a once worthy rival is talking this way. And now I feel a little guilty about this and this. I swear I didn't know.
Look, Wasco, I've been around a while. There is a time-tested way out of this funk. Simply put, you need to find a town that you can get snobby with. When Angelinos get down about their misfortune of booming during the worst architectural era of American history, they remind themselves of Bakersfield and feel better. When Bakersfieldians start to feel bad about being picked on, they say "Shafter! Now that's a backwater" and smile... and so on. You get the idea, Wasco. You need to find your Buttonwillow.
You guys'll get your swagger back. And look at Pixley over there. See? Feel better?
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