An excerpt from a larger work comprising writing and performance that revisits and examines adolescent memories of suburban subculture.

Oak trees and whitetail deer in

Abundances we tame

Razed woods and ticky tacky

TV dins with the fam

Excess, the new convenience

Tinged with work ethic shame

Same teenage rage all summer

Restraint, virtue or sham?

Americana 2006

Widescreen and lens flare evoke the epic or

mundane, point out our hero amongst mass-

produced hot dog buns. The popcorn-crunching

audience files in prepared for thrill,

everyone on their own path back home.

Lyric 2004

Well if you wanted honesty

call me a faggot one more time

I’m not OK trust me

middle school sucks

forget about

LOL smooths friend awkwardness

faggot sticks

*volume UP*

morphs

like a sore muscle

Excess, the new convenience

Tinged with work ethic shame

Same teenage rage all summer

Restraint, virtue or sham?

Same teenage rage all summer

Restraint, virtue or sham?

Excess, the new convenience

Tinged with work ethic shame

Black Class Middle Upper

Down seat go after toilet bathroom put,

do your the not in the sink dishes to leave.

Your bed make the, love you, stop acting up.

Mind your position in life because there

are plenty people who don’t want you here.

Soundtrack

I’m not alone ‘cause the TV’s on, yeah

‘cause plots depict a camp reality,

‘cause suburbs are movie sets, are settings,

are models already, for something, some

Relief, Deal, Clearance, Security, Hope.

If you were to have asked William Levitt about his vision for the future of US suburbs, a family like mine would not have fit the picture. A 2015 article from The Guardian describes how Levitt altered the US suburb, and laid the framework for countless US housing developments to come after with the construction of Levittown in Long Island New York, just outside New York City, beginning in 1947. Catering to white World War II veterans who, due to low housing stock, were living with relatives after returning home, houses were built rapidly, employing techniques used on automobile assembly lines as well as methods used during the war to construct military housing. At construction’s most efficient, 1 house was built every 16 minutes.

In a 1997 New York Times article, Black WWII veteran Eugene Burnett describes Levittown as “symbolic of segregation in America.” He continues: ”When I hear ‘Levittown,’ what rings in my mind is when the salesman said: ‘It’s not me, you see, but the owners of this development have not as yet decided whether they’re going to sell these homes to Negroes.” A clause in the lease for the first Levittown houses explicitly stated that the homes could not “be used or occupied by any person other than members of the Caucasian race,” and for much of its history the suburban community remained 100% white. The aforementioned 2015 Guardian article states that the community was 94% white at the time of its publication.

Oak trees and whitetail deer in

Abundances we tame

Razed woods and ticky tacky

TV dins with the fam

Excess, the new convenience

Tinged with work ethic shame

Same teenage rage all summer

Restraint, virtue or sham?

Teens retreat into trees and

Smoke cigarettes and claim

Who’s more hardcore than hardcore

More rage sprouts from ho-hum

– JA