comments, concerns, or just plain bitching

Dear Generation,

If I could, I’d like to take some of your time to point out what I feel is a gross lapse in judgment on the part of your magazine. Last week your magazine published an article on page 24 by some hack named Christopher L. Davis (I can only assume that the “L” stands for “Lame”), entitled “Western NY: A Vortex of Evil.” I found this article to be both insensitive and misleading.

In this article Mr. Davis puts forth the proposition that, “God hates Buffalo and we are cursed to be associated with pain and destruction for eternity.” To prove his point he produces a list of bad occurrences that happened in our fair town. He goes on to talk about the Bills and Love Canal, and a bunch of other stuff. Then he goes on to makes jokes about them that were neither humorous nor in good taste.

It’s not that I disagree with Mr. Davis that these events happened. It’s all a matter of history and I cannot deny history. What I do disagree with is that Mr. Davis chooses to look at this town with such obvious malice, and that he blatantly disregards all the wonderful events and fantastic people that call Buffalo home. We created the chicken wing; we have homes built by Frank Lloyd Wright. We gave the world great music in the form of Rick James, Ani Difranco, and the Goo Goo Dolls. Sure the Bills lost four Super Bowls in a row, but shouldn’t we revel in the fact that we made it to four Super Bowls in a row, and not that we lost them?

I think Mr. Davis should apologize to the people of our great city for doing us such a great disservice. He obviously has no idea what he’s writing about, and I suspect he’s probably from Long Island.

Sincerely,

Mike Rakhabet

UB Student and lifelong Buffalo Resident

Dear Mike,

I understand where you’re coming from. I really do. And despite what you may suspect, I too am a lifelong Buffalo resident and I suspect that I may in fact love this city far more than you do. What I think it really comes down to is that you are a “glass half full” kind of guy, where as I am a “ the glass spilt all over the table, and we’re out of paper towels,” kind of guy.

Before I explain to you why I wrote the piece you found so offensive, let me point out a couple things that you seem to not understand. A) It was on the back page of the magazine, a page usually reserved for humor pieces. I was joking; you obviously did not get it. B) I will concede Rick James to you, but Ani Difranco and the Goo Goo Dolls for Christ’s sake? Do you really want your city associated with lesbian folk rock and pop power ballads? You could have at least mentioned Cannibal Corpse. And C) The Bills did lose all those Super Bowls, and history remembers the winners; deal with it.

What I feel I must really explain to you is that when I wrote that piece, and even now, our fair city is going through what you may call, a “giant fucking meltdown.” As of Friday, February 4, our county may lose 3,000 jobs at any moment (only if we don’t become the highest taxed county in the country). Our mayor is an ineffectual twit who has no power because the city is run by a state-sponsored control board, and as I’m sure you noticed, the Bills once again did not make the playoffs. So I guess you could say I was feeling a bit disillusioned when I wrote the piece. If I offended you I apologize, but if you ever say that I’m from Long Island again, I break every bone in your body.

Your buddy,

Christopher L. Davis

(The “L” stands for “Live”)

Contributing Editor