The Black Sheep Cafe

When I was a young adult, there was nothing like the Black Sheep Cafe here in Springfield. While it's sad that the venue is under attack by Springfielders, It is becoming clear that the word Springfielder has become an expression; a description of a class of people not much different from Indiana Hoosiers. Surprisingly, people from Indiana are proud to be called Hoosiers.

I always go against the grain though it may not look like it at times. Ever since I returned to SPFLD I’ve felt those old agonies of summers with nothing to do. Every summer day I and my friends lamented “What are we going to do today? … I don’t know.”

This was more than twenty years ago. Of course I was broke and my parents worked and had no time to chauffer us around and they dolled out a pittance for an allowance. Nobody in Springfield at that time had the imagination to appeal to such a group of kids and provide them with a place to make new friends.

After so many decades, we finally have The Black Sheep Café, but I’m in my forties now. It’s too little too late for me. The fight will be long and hard for them, and there will be agent provocateurs who will try to put them down, and it will happen sooner than later because of the “Springfielder.”

“Springfielder” as evidenced by past behaviors, has become a word that describes a combination of behaviors and decision-making that falls in the area between tradition and bigotry, influenced primarily by selfishness and an inability to defer gratification and consider long-term consequences of decisions.

Like bulldozing and paving over the richest soil in the world for White Oaks Mall and other shopping centers, covering the downtown building facades with cheesy aluminum siding in the 1960’s and 70’s, then removing it, tearing down the old state capitol before rebuilding it, giving tax increment financing to outside corporations who get a free ride while they plunder the local economy, then close up shop and leave when the honeymoon is over.

Instead of putting a left-turn arrow light at MacArthur and Lawrence intersection for east and westbound traffic, they put up a sign with a flashing yellow light that states “High Accident Intersection.”

And on and on…

So I wish Black Sheep all the best, but there is one more problem. When I was a young adult, it was all about hanging out with friends and listening to music. When I was finally kicked out of my parents house, I regret every day that I didn’t go to the public library and better my education, for free.