Which Light is Turned On?

Is your light turned on? The green one of course. This figurative "green light" is in reference to what drives you, or me rather since this is my blog. After starting to read The Great Gatsby and experiencing the incredibly vivid color descriptions of F. Scott Fitzgerald, our class was presented this question by our teachers. This was also supplemented by a recent New York Times article that referenced Fitzgeralds novel, posing the question, what is your green light?

Sadly, the only thing I can think of that truly drives me is my future, which would somewhere along the way include a level of financial success. This is not to say that happiness will be compromised, but both components play a part. As awful as it sounds all I really want to do is get into the best higher education institution possible and get the best possible job I can out of college. Laying it out in this manner makes my future sound depressing and devoid of any enjoyment, but I really don't see myself striving for a nobel peace prize.

The Rise and Fall of Cairo

Cairo, Illinois has been at the heart of the Midwest during the 19th century, but after the civil war ended and trading by boat subsided, this seemingly insignificant Midwest town has fallen by the wayside.

Hopefully my classmates have already made the connection, Cairo was the original destination of Huck and Jim in Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.

There was a mystique about Cairo in the story, created by the anticipation of Huck starting a life anew and Jim being reunited with his family. This aura of mysticism made me envision Cairo as a quaint Midwestern haven on the banks of the Mississippi. The truth is that Twain was not at all misleading at the time.

Quaint was probably not quite the word to describe the town, but it was certainly a noteworthy place. Cairo, during the early 1800's, as a result of its location on the river, was among the most important trading posts in the Midwest. The Mississippi and the Ohio Rivers unite on the banks of Cairo, which forced Cairo to become an industrial town. The Illinois Central Railroad also ran through Cairo, so it was just inevitable that Cairo would be at the heart of Midwestern trade.

Cairo was also a Union stronghold during the civil war in the 1880's. It served as an important supply base and a training center. By the 1900's, Cairo was at its all time high, as population would spike in 1907 at 20,000 people.

Most would assume that the Industrial Revolution of the 1900's would help an industrial town such as Cairo, yet that was all but true. Cairo was mainly at the heart of river trade, and trade by rail second. With the Industrial Revolution came the car and its introduction into the mainstream. It was not long until American business' came to realize that trade by car was more efficient than any other option. So when the entire country experienced a boom

Cairo was witnessing its own downfall.

And there lies the demise of Cairo. After 1910, a gradual decline in population began and has not stopped to this day. The population in Cairo is currently hovering around two and a half thousand. Cairo was at one time, a focal location in the Midwest, but now is steeped in poverty. 60% of schoolchildren in the Cairo Unified School District 1 are living under the poverty line, a figure that places them in the top twenty in the nation in this category.

I found it interesting and even more sad that this town, which was so well portrayed in the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn has fallen from its height as an industrial and trading powerhouse of the Midwest, to a dismal rural pit. All this is a result of the Industrial Revolution, possibly one of the most important things to happen in this country's history, which is certainly responsible for molding the US into what it is now. This makes me wonder what if. What if the Industrial Revolution never came? Would the US be a third world country stuck in the 1890's? Could our lives actually have been comprable to Huck's?