The Goldman State
Ed Goldman is a longtime newspaper and magazine columnist, the author of five books and creator of The Goldman State, a three-times-a-week online column with subscribers in 40 states, Canada and Europe. A professional playwright, composer and painter, Ed has also taught journalism at five California Universities and community colleges. His bucket list includes becoming the victim of a corporate takeover. This podcast is an extension of his unique take on the world around us and his interpretation, with all the creativity imaginable, of what that would literally sound like if he were to speak it.
The Goldman State
Episode 113: Citizen of the World With a Tourist Mindset
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You know... I've never really unpacked "fully" from any of my moves, across country or locally. Am I a perpetual tourist or am I actually the "tour guide"? Maybe it's just a tourist mindset and this is my best Sacramento life.
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00:00 - Ed Goldman (Host)
Hi, this is Ed Goldman with the Goldman State Podcast. I have been a tourist all my life. I'm not being philosophical as in. Aren't we all mere visitors on this existential plane? I just feel as though, no matter where I've lived or how long, I was simply someone who landed in an uncharted destination and usually handled it. This isn't quite as dashing as how Humphrey Bogart's character was referenced in Casablanca as a citizen of the world. Just to clarify, this was right after Bogart described his nationality to a Nazi reviewing his dossier as I'm a drunkard. But back to my self-anointment as a tourist.
00:39
I was born in and lived my first eight years in New York City. The next 18 years found me in Southern California. Tourist, I was born in and lived my first eight years in New York City. The next 18 years found me in Southern California and I've lived in Sacramento now for the past 49 years. The first and still current residencies have been the ones that felt closer to home, so to speak, whereas my nearly two decades in Southern California felt like a long-ago dream or a movie I watched very late one night and suspect I dozed off intermittently during, making my memories of those years a bit unreliable, to be sure. A great many episodes that informed the person I'd become were staged there, so I keep thinking they were episodes I watched but didn't entirely act in.
01:20
Since I was very young, I've had the sense that, no matter where I was, I was doing a drop-in or a pop-by, or maybe that I was on a fam trip the familiarization sortie that meeting planners make to see if a particular city will be a suitable destination for their client's next convention. Years ago, someone looked at the wardrobe I'd packed for my fourth or fifth trip to Europe and said that if I dressed that way I'd quote look like a tourist, unquote. This person said the word tourist with a definite sneer, in a tone not that different from one you might use to describe a hyena with untreated boils. There was no point in my answering that I would in fact be a tourist on my trip. It was a bit like bringing a guest to an Orthodox Jewish wedding and suggesting for the next few hours try not to look as Icelandic.
02:10
Now, if you live in a resort area year-round or an otherwise popular destination, you probably feel torn about tourists If your town has a seasonal appeal, like water sports in the summer or skiing in the winter or both, or much more intrusive. If your home has a year-round fascination for non-residents, like Washington DC or Paris, you might despise these visitors, but you might also realize their presence contributes mightily to your local economy. Maybe you even despise them for that too. In the way some people end up resenting a person who lends them money, which is a bad attitude to take, even with a loan shark, but maybe especially with a loan shark, especially if his name is Vinnie the Lip. An even more argumentative situation crops up when tourists are also homeowners in that resort town or international city, or more precisely, second homeowners. These people who might be resented by the homies pay property taxes and other regional fees, yet many can't vote in the local elections on the very issues for which they'll be assessed. This isn't just unfair, it's taxation without representation, and another reason local people should be grateful to them. In some resort towns, it's the second homeowners who are paying as much as 70% of the local taxes.
03:26
Thinking of myself as a tourist who's simply affiliated with the Department of Earth which, as we know, is a temp position, gives me the freedom to feel I can decamp at any time and relocate to somewhere else. No matter where I end up. I'll always be able to enjoy it as a tourist, and every time people call me that, or a newcomer or an out-of-towner, I'll nod, smile and think to myself I'm sure what they meant to say was he's a citizen of the world. I'm Ed Goldman. My column, the Goldman State, comes out every Monday, wednesday and Friday. You can subscribe for free at GoldmanStatecom. Thanks for listening.