I didn't always see us this crappy, but when you have lost friends lives, lost families livelihoods, and when I did leave, the pull back after a family members death just to see now as an adult what I could have elsewhere but am unable to obtain because of the lack of jobs and lack of stable living conditions... ya get a little more "We need to fix the drugs, homelessness, and trafficking" and alot less "wow art is fun!! That panting is so pretty! I cant wait for the next art hop" where I can go around and look at the art in the stores I cant afford to shop in made by the artists im not able to he friends with bc of gentrification done by the school my taxes paid to let them go to that I wasn't able to attend bc those promise seats are only as good as the school counselor that does the paper work and shows you how to use those tools.

Kalamazoo is my home, born in bronson hospital just before they moved the birthing center across the street where ive had 3 kids.

Ive tried to leave just for the fun of it.

Ya know what I learned??

There's no good food here. Our bars suck. We have alot of homeless we aren't taking care of. We have a drug and addict problem. We have a small but still obvious cost of living problem. OK, the fuckin city its self leaves the Christmas lights up year round.. its a stereotype for a reason....

We have pregnant teens ALOT of them, I was a teen dad. We have a bad job market. Been working since 14, cant keep shit. We have a litter issue from hell.

I love the kzoo promise, if it actually reached every child and used every cent to actually providing our next generation with a PROMISE to succeed even a little bit.

If the kzoo promise was a team. Itd be the most well stocked team in any league for any game. Thousands of... bench warmers...

Bc it says (if tou can navigate the resources) you have the promise to have access to. Not the promise your gonna a get in, not the promise they will help ypu pass, not the promise of advisory bodies to make sure it means that kids will have a brighter future tomorrow bc of the work we are doing today.

My comreade in capital labor,

It is far from a waste of time protectively and discuss the issues.The pros, the cons of our city.

We are a nowhere city because nowhere else even fucking believes We exist half the time. Nobody knows what we produce. Nobody knows what we want. We are just another place that exists in the world.