A First Rate Town
Umatilla, Oregon was first founded in 1864. However, it was just as quickly disbanded and the municipal government dissolved. It was then refounded in 1906. In 1914, before the Nineteenth Amendment was put in place, many of the women in Umatilla decided to run for government offices. Since candidacy didn’t have to be declared, many of the women didn’t tell the men, but voted for themselves. They then won the election and enacted major changes to the town of Umatilla. Electric bills, railroad signs, and potholes that had been neglected in the previous years finally received the attention and care they needed. Since then, this town has grown, shrunk, changed and shifted over time, often for the better, and occasionally for the worse.
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The band Good Kid was formed in Toronto in the year 2015. Since then, the five members have released various singles and EPs, showing their dynamic as a band and their wonderful musical aptitude. Their music has spanned over four EPs in the last six years, with their most recent release of Good Kid 4. Each release is filled not only with catchy, upbeat music, but with deep, heartfelt lyrics as well.
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My family moved to Umatilla in 2011, when I was five. When we moved, my old home and old friends were all I knew. To me, moving was this great tragedy that could’ve been averted, had circumstances been different. But then, on the first day of kindergarten, my opinions changed. I met my best friend Susie in line for class, and we were attached at the hip all throughout elementary school. By the time middle school rolled around, I was friends with most of the kids in my grade. We all grew up together in a small, close-knit town, so even if we didn’t totally get along with each other, we knew each other well enough to coexist.
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The first song I heard from Good Kid was called “Tell Me You Know.” In the song, the singer talks about leaving everything behind and starting a new life to get over his relationship. However, the singer still holds out hope that his ex will find him and tell him she knows how it feels to want to leave everything behind and start anew. The song's instrumentals and poetic lyricism had me hooked right off the bat. The band and their music resonated with me, even if I didn’t always relate to their music. The more I learned about the band, the more in love I felt with everything about them. I was happily surprised to learn that they had no copyrights on any of their songs, and even encouraged people to use their music for various projects.
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When you’re a kid, you tend to believe that the world as a whole is good. Even if things seem dire, there is a youthful hope that things will get better. As a child, it was difficult for me to find any flaw in my hometown. Sure, it was someplace new for a while and was a hundred miles away from any of my extended family members, but this was the town that I grew to call home, the place that will forever be associated with some of my fondest memories. I already get nostalgic passing through downtown, despite only having moved out a few months ago. But that doesn’t mean that this town is perfect. When you start to look closer, the flaws seem to infiltrate every corner of this picturesque town.
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An excellent song from Good Kid is “First Rate Town.” This song resonates with me more than any other song they’ve written. The song seems to be something personal between two people, talking about leaving the town they grew up in. While they discuss this, there is a juxtaposition between their feelings towards this town. Eventually, the singer says, “This is a first rate town / And all you ever notice / Are the ways it’s stretched too far.” The location in the song "First Rate Town" is described as a place that “has been knocked down / But some of us are still / Left here between the scars.” I think that line perfectly describes Umatilla. Many of the people in this town may stay here. I know plenty of people who plan to live and die here. But no matter who it is, everyone in this town has a story. We’re all a little flawed.
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I’ve had friends who’ve been hurt, and unable to get support when they reached out to trusted adults in the community. I see how alliances can be formed and used against people, and it’s hard to navigate in a town where difficult situations are handled poorly by people in charge. Reckoning the town and community I love with the flaws inherent to any group of people can be difficult. It can be especially tough when decisions for the future are being made. I am at a crossroads. I can choose to leave this town and seek a better life somewhere new. But the question must be posed of whether or not any town can truly be “first rate.” You could argue that there’s no such thing as a first rate town. Maybe every town is too flawed to be redeemed. Perhaps the damage done in the world is too massive for any place to be amazing. Or maybe we just have to do our best, every day, to make the towns we live in just a little better. Maybe no town can be first rate, but that doesn’t mean we can’t try.