A Tourist In My Own City

When people find out that I'm from Savannah, they usually react the same way. "Ohh, I love Savannah. It's so pretty." To which I respond, "Yeah, I actually hate Savannah." They can never understand my antipathy for the city in which I spent my formative years. To me, Savannah isn't the beautiful tourist town that they see. It's a place where all eyes are on you at all times. The police watch you. The thugs watch you. Random people in the mall watch you. It's like everybody wants to see what you got, and hate on you if they ain't got it. And it's mad hood too. There are certain areas that are hood and many people that fit that description. Add to that, the racist tendencies (even though the city is predominantly Black, the wealth is definitely not equally distributed), the lack of career opportunities (as a college graduate, I couldn't find a job. The last job I was offered before I moved to ATL was at a sugar packing plant for $6.25 an hour) and the steaming hot weather (I have nothing else to elaborate on, but since I put parentheses on the first two, I thought I should do it on this one too LOL) and I'm done.

I had some good times in the S-A-V, mostly in college and the years immediately following, but I could never move back. For one, I don't smoke weed anymore, and that is what made it fun. LOL And two, I'm kinda used to big city life now. Whenever I go to Savannah, I feel like I have taken a trip in a time warp. Nothing much seems to change. When I was in the club in June, the people looked exactly like they looked in 98 when I used to club hop 3-4 times a week. For the most part, the same landmarks and buildings are there. The only thing different is that S.CA.D is developing the downtown area. That makes sense in a city that's built on tradition, but every now and then it would be nice to see something new.

I've been gone for about 8 and a half years, and I think its about time that I come to terms with the city. Time to stop hating. I was there a couple of weeks ago, and it was cool. But I'm gonna take it one step further. I'm gonna see the Savannah that everybody else loves. I'm a do it like a tourist. I was looking online tonight and planning out an itinerary for later this summer. I'm gonna see some of the sights that I took for granted in my 14 years there. I've been to River Street quite often, but I've never taken the Riverboat tour. I'm a do that. I often drove around the Squares, but never took the time to appreciate their beauty. I've never been to some of the most famous restaurants in Savannah, but I'm gonna do that too. Hopefully by the time I'm done, I'll have a new appreciation of the Seaport City.

Anyone wanna come with me? LOL