The Day After Tomorrow: Pittsburgh Edition

Apparently America has an obsession with apocalypse. (Some people I know would throw global warming into this. Other people I know would throw those same other people as perpetrators of another sort of apocalypse...) Yale this term has a class on Apocalypse in the American Imagination, if my memory serves me correctly after Bluebooking 640 pages...

But I can see why. If I look around at coming home to Pittsburgh, or rather Natrona Heights, Pennsylvania, I definitely see why people might be paranoid about imminent destruction and failure. While the downtown area seems to be breathing the fresh, crisp air of the Allegheny Valley and drinking from the blue waters of the Allegheny, the Mon, and the Ohio Rivers, just drive 25 miles up north and you'll see the weed infested gravel plots where buildings stood 8 months ago when I was home for Christmas, or even 5 months ago for those few days in March.

Let me break this down for you:

-At least 3 buildings along Rt. 28 going into the city, that were there when I left, are now gone

-The entire Bouchat car dynasty (i.e. 2 buildings) in Natty Heights are now gone

-The Macy's and just about 40% of the other businesses in the local Heights Plaza are gone.

-Shopping centers that were built at one point last year have been left empty.

YET! I see so much development:

-The WalMarts have taken off 3 miles from my house

-There is a lot of slow Penn Dot construction

-At least 2 New Churches have been built near my home

-The Giant Eagle Grocery Store has expanded

I actually don't know if the development is telling of growth or disaster, but whatever it is, I find the fact that slow construction, Wal-Marts, and Religious establishments (as well as the waist lines of my fellow Natty-Heightsers) have grown in volume as other businesses shrink.

Being home is like being in a different country. Things do seem older and more over grown. The flowers have spread on our bank. The road has aged and gotten sealed. The house has taken on a very "lived in" look that I have been trying to achieve with decoration scheme for the past 10 years of my life (with the exception of last year). The trees have grown and the leaves are big. The grass is not dried out nor dead. New people living outside of the farm have bought old houses. There are old men driving around with their mouths open and the cost of having your nails set has been raised to $30 at a nearby salon.

As things age and as I notice it, perhaps I'm looking for signs of failure in the town that holds my mailing address. Perhaps I'm looking for ways this place is dying and leaving it to gravel and concrete pads, and of course perhaps a greater sort of seclusion on my farm... Perhaps I'm trying to see the Middle Town America that is suffering with cash, cholesterol, and obesity, which is all I hear about but haven't seen in quite some time. Perhaps we crave failure in order to launch ourselves into a new realm or new era in order to escape something.

Americans have always been the greatest escape artists I know (I could argue that Manifest Destiny is merely an excuse for running away). Apocalypse and looming failure is a good reason to escape I suppose. Are we really failing though?