WhatUpWally?: My Midwestern Adventure | Declining Society Capitalist Growth

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

My Midwestern Adventure | Declining Society Capitalist Growth

Declining Society Capitalist Growth
Middletown, Ohio

The WhatUpWally? staff took the months of December and January to search for personal inspiration. Jessica went to Greece (pictures forthcoming), Brian worked in Steamboat, Eric stayed in Texas to write music, and Francisco traveled the east coast searching record stores for new samples to use in his next project.

What is an American?
Middletown, Ohio

I, well, I went home to Cincinnati. I went home with an unsettled mind. I have been trying to make sense of the nations political division, our confused economic understanding, and what I believe is possible in todays political landscape. I went home searching for clues about the rise and fall of industrialization that left my hometown so bitter and cynical. I wondered and continued to wonder how citizens of cities like Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, Detroit, and Cleveland could find refuge in the political rhetoric of the extreme right.

Which Way Should We Go?
Middletown, Ohio

I went home wondering how, in cities that created what we understand as the working, middle class - cities that provided the bedrock of workers organizations - cities of hard workers that committed themselves to corporations and sent their kids to college - - How the citizens of these cities could support politicians like John Boehner, Mitt Romney, Sarah Palin and talk show hosts like Rush and Beck. How could citizens support the politicians that support the companies that shut out our workers for the sole purpose of increasing profits with cheap labor over seas?

The Meaning of Freedom?
The Freedom Center, Cincinnati, Ohio

How could a city like Cincinnati, a city that signified the arrival of freedom for those traveling the underground railroad, be ashamed of the Underground Rail Road museum that sits at the center of activity for the city?

Who We Are
Middletown, Ohio

The story I was really attempting to uncover was about me, my culture, and how I went from a devout christian, capitalist, boot strap pulling individualist to an areligious, common good theorizing, capitalism contending, neo-socialist.

Salvation or Oppression?
Somewhere in Kentucky

After a month long journey through the midwest, I am left only with more questions. I don't know if there are any rational answers. Maybe life just moves, maybe some people move life for others, maybe there is a cruel god that moves those that move others, maybe we can understand our world and maybe our inability to understand our lives is what makes life interesting?

Empty handed of answers, I did walk away with some images that tell their own stories, Enjoy!

WHO OWNS WHAT:

The Public and the Private Sphere