Scary BIG (pine)APPLE MOMENT

You know that old cliche about how New Yorker's are just like pineapples.

That they are all prickly and sharp on the outside and soft and juicy on

the inside, and have this inedible core.... Well, maybe you haven't heard that one. But in general, it's my own personal metaphor for how  New Yorkers are always loud and running around like they don't have the time of day for you; but stop one and ask directions, and you will likely get directions to where you are going and a restaurant review to boot. Just the other day I was standing on the corner in Brooklyn talking to my friend Peter, when a car pulled up and asked how to get to McGuiness. I told them the way and Peter said that it seemed strange to him that he is always asked directions all the time. I told him that I get that kind of stuff too, and that I also seem to get into rather open conversations with perfect strangers, who tell me important details about their lives. This is something that I think I picked up from going to bars by myself for years. Not only was I a good listener, I also was good at getting people to buy me drinks.

Recently I've had a couple of strange conversations with total strangers. Now this normally would not be a topic of note, but in both instances I got to talking to these guys about the election and about the economy and about Sarah Palen's snow job, and both of these guys were white and somewhat older than me, pretty much from another generation, and despite the fact that we had had shared a bunch of information and I found both of these guys to agreed with me almost entirely,   both of these guys told me that they "could n't vote for a black guy." I could not believe it. That is what I heard. I was shocked. This is New York City. I was stupid enough to think we were above this kind of stuff.

I tried to bring up more points about the cynicism of what they were saying and how bad things were going and how much McCain would bring more of the same. I did what I could to tell these guys that they were being stupid. But at the end of the day, I am afraid that nothing will change these guys. And I bring it up here mostly because I know I didn't say anything compelling enough to get these guys to change their opinions.  Look, I have had very little faith in the level of intelligence of much of this country.  But, in the past I blamed it on mainland America and  continue to live here on this tiny island off the coast, feeling safe from views that I attributed to the rest of America. I know it's naive to think this way, and now, if McCain somehow does win this election, I promise to live my empty promises to leave, like I make every time every time the stupidity reared its ugly head. All I can say is god help us and please let these people wake up. I don't want to move out of this city. But now  I just can't help but wonder how many of these clowns I've run across in the past and let their transgressions go unchecked just because they were supplying me with free drinks.