[UA] Mundanity

[Stuart Anderson]

Jon Capps wrote:e:

> I've just scratched the cliched surface of Asheville, but another thing that
> gets me about that city is it's atmosphere.  Every time I go there I get the
> feeling that it tries *so* hard to look like a big city.  It even fools many
> people.  But in reality, it's just a mountain town with delusions of
> grandeur.  I just get a vibe that scrapes my spine whenever I'm in it.  The
> more I think about it, the more UA just seems *right* in Asheville.
>
> Of course, in yer UnAverse, Asheville, may be the humdrum capitol of the
> world.  I just don't see it that way.

    I used to live in Spartanburg, SC and we'd drive around to lots of the
little mountain towns. Asheville stuck in mind, *probably* due to the same
spine-scrapy vibe you mention. But it's very pretty. Or it was then. I'm
fascinated by things that are pretty and annoying at the same time (ask my
ex-wife.) I wasn't thinking of Thomas Wolfe, and I won't pretend to be overly
familiar with the town. Just one of them "I need an ooky town about here"
sessions with the road atlas.
    I agree with you that the town's UAble. I didn't make it mundane for the
same reason that a town would be mundane in our world. It's the old distorted
mirror. "Magick doesn't work here--that just ain't right. No one's shooting at
me--I'm scared." I love to do things occasionally that point out how easily we
all get comfortable with very twisted kinds of thinking (ask my ex-wife.)
    Some friends that played in that game got moved to Fayetteville. They
visited Asheville and were going to eat there, but were too creeped out to stay
even for lunch.
--Stu


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