lj idol - current events

[hug_machine]

The first thing you learn when you move to the midwest is how to drive in the winter. The roads get bad there, they tell you. Slick as an ice rink on a rainy day. There'll come a time when you need to get through it. To make that appointment, to get to work, to drop the kids off. They don't close the schools here too often.

So you learn where to buy your snow tires and you learn to change gears. You learn to carry cat litter in your car, to sprinkle under the tires when your car won't budge. And against all your better judgement, you learn to turn into the slide. Let it take you. If you try to fight it, a simple skid will put you into a spin-out. Land in the ditch, or worse. Remember the rules. And never, ever panic.

This winter's a real killer, they say. The plows can't keep up. It all just blows back onto the highway. Just moved here this summer? There's some ugly luck. Don't worry, though. The first one's always the worst one.

When they finally close the roads, you live in a glass-domed snow globe. A cute little village house nestled in drifts of frost-capped pines. The swirl of plastic snow bits, sloshed about by an angry god or maybe just a slightly bored child. Nobody's getting out for a while.

You turn on your porch lamp and the string of Christmas lights you've still not taken down. They blush like halos in the white-out conditions, the only lights for miles. You can't go anywhere. There's no cars on the roads. Only snow and the deer with their nervous, graceful step.

The only channels you can get show reruns and old movies. Clint Eastwood on one channel, earthquakes and wildfires and tsunamis on the other. Eventually, even the phone goes out. You could be the last somebody on earth. And, as far as being the last member of a dying species is concerned, this is absolutely dead boring.

You remember something you heard once, about how the earth is like the baby bear's porridge in Goldilocks: not too hot, not too cold. Just right. For life, for humans, for art and science and knowledge and breath. A tiniest click of the thermostat either way will send us all into peril. Earthquakes, wildfires, tsunamis.

"Some say the world will end in ice."

You look out the frozen windows of your snow-globe home and remember the punch-line to the joke.

"But nobody told me it would be this week."




(My fantabulous partner for this week was pixie117. You can read her post right here! And since this is a current events topic, well..XD. I live in the frozen north. This week has been in the negatives and single digits most of the week. And they really do close the roads if it gets too bad! See this article for proof!)

Comments

[krysti-ryou.livejournal.com]

I love this piece, because I grew up in the Midwest and this is a perfect capture of life during winter. Haha, we do act like winter is the end of the world. ♥

And with our weather... it kinda is! I've never heard the end of that joke before. Robert Frost is one of my favorite poets, ever. What a lovely entry! :D

[hug-machine.livejournal.com]

Hee! I was worried it would be too depressing, but winter can be pretty bad when you live in the midwest! It does feel like the end of the world, sometimes. XD

And I love that Robert Frost too! I grew up with his poems! Though the punch-line was totally made up for this story, 'cause I liked the idea of it being made into a joke. X)

[wendelah1]

I love this. I love the imagery of the snow globe.

[plastrickland23.livejournal.com]

You guys have had it worse than Ohio has, and it's bad enough here!...Cold more so than snow. I love where I live except for January and February.
P.

[bigdoug.livejournal.com]

This winter hasn't been as bad. Even being in the midwest, we haven't gotten more than a few inches of snow this year. It's sad because how can I go skiing on dirt?!

[cacophonesque.livejournal.com]

This was really poetic to read. I loved the language you chose--and even the use of second person. And, there was a lot that reminded me of my own experiences of long winters in the Maine mountains when I was growing up. Lovely work, Cat.

[rattsu.livejournal.com]

As a fellow denizen of the frozen north, I have to say you captured the feeling perfectly.

[tigrkittn.livejournal.com]

I love this! Great job. (And right now I'm in NC looking out my window at the first big snow we've had in years, everything all sparkly white!)

[beautyofgrey.livejournal.com]

Very lovely, and I love the tie-in.

[oneonthefence.livejournal.com]

What a great tie-in with your partner, and I could really FEEL this piece. Great work!

"But nobody told me it would be this week."

[tamaraland.livejournal.com]

We actually said this during my course last week. A Spanish army captain and I were walking to class and we were both complaining about the bitter cold (-30°C), and I said Some say the world will end in ice, and that's what he replied.

[onda-bianca.livejournal.com]

Ohhh, you tie this in with your partner's entry so well!

[alycewilson.livejournal.com]

Hang in there. The days are already getting warmer!

[java-fiend.livejournal.com]

I really like the way you tied this in with your partners piece. Nicely done. :-)

[shadowwolf13]

I think I'm glad that I live further south. :) Though it's painfully cold here too at least there's not snow and ice to keep Lynn from work. :)

[karmasoup.livejournal.com]

Still actually IN the Midwest right now (MN), and, OMG, it's been cold the last few days. It is really amazing what a difference a few degrees makes, though, it's always tougher to get there when the weather is like what we have right now.

[joeymichaels.livejournal.com]

Let me tell you, living in New England is no picnic either. Winter is 99.9% of the reason I now live in Hawaii.

Papaya is the other .1%.

<3

[mstrobel.livejournal.com]

Wow. I loved reading that, but it sounds so terrifying! And so foreign to me that I think I'd need to see it to really comprehend. Although I'm not sure I -want- to see it firsthand XD

[baxaphobia.livejournal.com]

ah being snowed in! It hasn't happened yet this winter here in Massachusetts. Nice entry!

[markmade.livejournal.com]

This was awesome. Great job!

[battle-kitten.livejournal.com]

I really like your style of writing, it's descriptive but neat, not over long. Great entry.