comedy show

i made it back to the comedy club tonight, since i wanted to see one of my buddies perform in the contest. and he did do my favorite joke, which was nice. he did quite well, finishing first, so he will advance on in the competition at the end of the month. i still like it how so many people recognize me there. but why not, since i'm a regular? i do like the sense of community, after searching for it for so long. i went, despite being tired. i needed a laugh anyway since it was a busy day at work, playing catch-up after a busy monday. but i did end up perfecting plenty of contracts, which i do like doing. a lot.
   after work, i added more things i like to my facebook page. most of those things were movies. may have helped that jennifer hough from the previous day said she liked seeing many of the movies on the page. and how i had a 'passion'. and i do, for writing.
   i looked at the facebook page about emerson hough school, and i was annoyed to read a recent posting about how things are already being tagged to be moved to other schools in town. as the posting caption said, it just seems wrong to pick over the bones before the mourning is over. apparently the last day- at least for now- is wednesday. snow day makeups extended the school year a few more days. i don't think they have as many in schools that are in big metro areas, but then again newton,iowa, is no metro area. some buses go onto dirt or gravel roads. sometimes the announcement is on certain days that buses will only run on hard-surface roads. makes sense why, as a bus could easily get swallowed up on those soft roads.
   it is not over yet with the school. the appeal to the state board is pending, to be heard in july apparently. it in some ways reminds me too much of the movie 'final season', about the norway,iowa, baseball team. it happened to be playing at newton's movie theater when the maytag plant was closing in october 2007. i was in town that weekend for the newton football game against des moines lincoln. newton won that night, 49-14, to advance to the state playoffs. and the news story the next day in the des moines register was also about what happened at the american legion next to the stadium. there was a 'maytag party' where people took turns swinging a sledgehammer at an old whirlpool dryer. whirlpool had bought maytag, and decided to pull out of newton shortly after the sale closed. i preferred them smashing it to any type of vandalism that could have happened. when i was in high school there was a statewide news story about union members smashing a japanese car, a 1974 subaru, as they were frustrated about many of their fellow uaw members losing their jobs since many were buying japanese cars. i liked what my english teacher said at school the next day: people will buy american cars when they make better cars. later, there was a story in the paper about the previous owners of the car. they hated seeing it smashed on t.v., and i don't blame them one bit. their story said they bought american cars again when the quality got better, kind of like what my teacher suggested. i still don't know how to feel about all of this. i had little interest in staying in newton for long after finishing college. i had seen a wider world, and once i found a job after a few months i moved to the des moines metro area. i know the ills in newton are in too many other small towns as well- left behind by the economy because they are small towns. and young people not wanting to stay around, since the opportunity wasn't there like in larger towns.
   it seemed appropriate on some level some of the movies i added to my facebook page. some of them remind me of my hometown all too well. 'roger and me' by michael moore. the others were fictional ones, 'gung ho' and 'all the right moves'. all were about crumbling factory towns. and when i bought a DVD copy of 'moves' it was when the maytag plant closure was announced in may 2006. i followed it with the 'greatest hits' CD by bruce springsteen. one of the songs on it was 'my hometown'. how the town crumbled due to factory job losses. 'son take a good look around, this is your hometown'. i did my best to do just that the last time i was there, and will try to do the same on my next visit as well. but i wish i didn't have to, but i have a hard time recognizing the town i one knew. it's hard to say goodbye, and it's sad.