gautier

my mother grew up in gautier (GO-chay), miss., which I’ve never seen mentioned in the international press, until now (see under biloxi), when it’s apparently been pretty much wiped off the map.

these were places I grew up visiting—gautier, pascagoula (where mom went to high school), gulfport, biloxi, and new orleans, where she lived after high school, where my parents honeymooned, where I visited as a child, where I visited for the mla, where I visited with my friend A, where things will never be the same.

The same, of course, wasn’t so great. Aside from the problems of global warming, wetland destruction, funding cuts, militaristic priorities, failures of planning, indifference of government, and the general badness of american capitalism, this is all also a reminder of the poverty of the area.

But it’s still hard for me to believe it was all on purpose.