Thursday, March 26, 2009

Urban Cowboy?

My apologies for the lack of an entry yesterday, time, the bad weather and a spunky little girl kept me busy and I was not able to get my thoughts together long enough to do an entry. I hope to squeeze in one or two today to make up for it though.

So about the title of today’s blog, urban cowboy; No, I do not speak of the old John Travolta movie but rather something I saw yesterday as I returned home from work.
Every day, my travels to and from work take me through some of the back roads of my area and through some of the underbelly of this town. One of these “ghetto” areas is the Allendale neighborhood.

Historically, the Allendale area of Shreveport is significant in that it was home to and named after Civil War General, Henry Watkins Allen, the only governor of Louisiana to take the oath in Shreveport, at the time; the capital of Louisiana. The significance of this area ends there. Now it is mostly a rundown shell of its former self, complete with shotgun houses, bad roads and the site of many lead stores of the local news programs. As bad as I feel for its residents, they do provide entertainment from time to time. The amusement ranges from basketball games in the streets to brightly painted cars with loud music and now the urban cowboy.

I saw the urban cowboy yesterday on my way home and I was not quick enough with the camera so you will have to imagine as I describe this guy. Picture this; guy in basketball shorts, with the required six inches of underwear exposed, with some bright orange Nikes, unlaced of course and a blue, knee-length shirt under his gold chains. To complete the Cooper Road inspired ensemble, he topped it off with a blue bandanna, under his flat billed, sideways worn ball cap. He was perched high atop his horse and was strutting down the shoulder waving at his boys as they passed and honked. As I reached for the camera I missed and only got a blur of the scene, nothing post worthy unfortunately. Believe me this was a sight.

He definitely was not what you picture when you say cowboy, or even urban cowboy with the bad, snap up, polyester printed shirts. This guy was far from stereotypical cowboy and was seemingly proud of his outcast status in this less than rural area. While I am not sure if he goes by “cowboy” in his circle of friends, he was a cowboy for a day to me and humorous to boot.
As a dedicated blogger now, I will try to get a picture of this horseman to show the audience. Maybe this will happen soon, if not I will be diligent in my efforts!

1 comment:

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