Comments on: web-footed babies

By: Coelecanth

Coelecanth — Wed, 22 Jun 2005 06:29:52 +0000

Seems to me that this post is nothing unusual for this blog. Back in its anonymous incarnation Fish was astoundingly revelatory and often praised for it. Now she reveals something that isn't particularly flattering and gets critized for it. Go figure.

I've never met a saint in real life and I sure don't expect to on the internet. Here, here for humans in all their imperfect glory, especially the ones willing to unapologetically share their harmless little flaws.

By: Kim Wells

Kim Wells — Fri, 17 Jun 2005 05:53:29 +0000

I grew up in Florida, so we had lots of tourists that were frustrating– pretty much year round. Summer had the summer folks (young families, men in shorts, sandals and BLACK SOCKS) and winter had the Snowbirds– retirees from places like New York & Chicago who drove too slow and tipped BADLY. So I grew up thinking “I’m never going to be a tourist– they suck and are so rude & clueless”. But we did recognize that we owed our economy to these folks & tried hard to be gracious, even if it was sometimes hard. If they went away, many of us would’ve been out of the jobs that paid the bills.

I’ve read places where people said NOT to do the tourist-y thing. That they didn’t understand people who visited “the sights”. But when I go somewhere, like, say, London, I will be damned if I’m *not* going to go see Big Ben and the Tower. Or trek all day to see Louisa May Alcott’s house in Boston. Or take that stupid boat at Niagra Falls. When I have gone someplace and NOT done the tourist-y thing (like when we went to Hawaii and the hubby refused to go to a luau) I’ve really regretted it later. I wanted some stupid poi, even if it was terrible! I wanted to see people juggling flaming torches!

But when I’m on my own, or with my hubby, we don’t stand out too much like sore thumbs, and I always try to be a gracious guest. In London, if I wasn’t with my in-laws, people assumed I wasn’t a tourist– and I was pretty damn proud of that. Others would walk past the people handing out flyers for tours or something and they’d get the sales pitch and the Londoners selling would ignore me. It felt good to not stand out in someone else’s city, to figure out which way to look for oncoming traffic. The only real rudeness I encountered in London was the couple who, when hearing we were from Texas, made the comment “Oh, you sure better not be a black person in Texas or you’ll get thrown in jail”. Hello? How clueles & biased was that about a state larger than your entire country? With all kinds of people? Stereotype much?

BUT we’re all out of our element in one way or another, at certain times. I know we looked like rubes fresh off a hay truck when we were looking for a taxi at the airport in NY; I could even see it! So I have to both agree with you about the little blondie and her scowl (although I’ll bet it was more being a teen and less being from somewhere other than NYC) and cringe at knowing that I, too, have been an annoying tourist at one time or another. But I tried!

By: Curmudgeon-lite

Curmudgeon-lite — Tue, 14 Jun 2005 06:47:58 +0000

pia, thank Rudy for cleaning up the crime so that those tourist dollars could flow again. What we need is another Dinkins administration to make New York safe for New Yorkers again.

By: Julie

Julie — Tue, 14 Jun 2005 00:45:56 +0000

Thanks Fish – makes perfect sense!

By: Wendi

Wendi — Tue, 14 Jun 2005 00:13:51 +0000

Fish: No one ever said you couldn't be yourself, even if you sound a little immature with all the dirty looks and gum throwing going on. But you write a blog, you put it on the internet for people to read, you have a comment box where, I presume, you would like people to leave comments. I thought your NY post was petty, snide, and full of arrogance and you can't possibly be that surprised that it was met with some criticism. Sometimes you reap what you sow.

Rachel: I apologize if I offended the great State of Kentucky, but I think you read a little too much into my comment. I don’t recall saying anything about anyone’s lack of education or anybody being barefoot and pregnant for that matter. Mr. Schmoe could have been from anywhere, and if it will make you feel better, let’s say he’s from Beaumont, Texas, which is where I live. And damn if he wasn’t happy to be in New York, happy enough to stand in the middle of the sidewalk, look around a little bit, and hopefully not have some fish throw gum in his hair.