At first it's kind of a fantasy - equal parts preconceived notions and sensory impressions. It's got the glossy feel of a tour book. Not all the images are pleasant but they're all snapshots. A glimpse. Something you drove past. A "Have a blessed day" and a smile at the drive-thru. A wild man, solid black, walking through the grass.
If you are someone who bothers to look outward beyond your screens, maybe just a few images will come to define your entire experience, for better or for worse. Maybe you laugh at the place for being so backwards or sneer at it for being too politically correct. The same is true of the people you interact with, if you bother to interact with them at all. One, or a very few, define the whole of your conception of the place. You make judgements.
Arkansas is like this or like that. The people here are like this or like that.
Each time it becomes clearer that there is no clarity at all. It's like this. And like that. And like something you never imagined before.
Propagandist on the radio bemoans the persecution of that poor baker who won't bake cakes for queer folk. Right winger dressed up as god. This stuff never stops down here.
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