The title of this blog is a line from the Drive-By Truckers song "Puttin' People On The Moon" off of their terrific album The Dirty South. It is appropriated here not only because I'm a fan, but also because it tangentially refers to a number of things that I think about often, and somethings that I will inevitably write about.
Musically, that track is far from my favorite on the record. However, the story it spins is one that has really stuck with me. It tells the tale of a down on his luck everyman in a town downriver from the NASA base near Huntsville, Alabama. The protagonist blames his economic malaise on the base. His wife dies of cancer, which is caused by the base's environmental fallout. He laments, "they can put a man on the moon, and I'm stuck down here just scraping by."
It's powerful stuff. The juxtaposition of everyday struggle and the awesome spectacle of sending rockets into space. It is also a fitting allegory for the state of our economy as a whole. It is mystifying to me that we live in a society that can turn mountains into oceans, but 50 million Americans still live in poverty.
But I digress... this post is just intended as an explanation of the blog title. As for the blog, I have no plans for it. I do not intend to update it regularly or write about anything in particular. I'm going to write about whatever I want, whenever I want and see if this whole blogging thing sticks. We shall see.
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