We built this world...

There are some songs that can work just like teleportation. They instantly take us back to the moment we first heard them. Jefferson Starship released the rock anthem "We Built this City" in 1985 with their album, Knee Deep in the Hoopla. That seems like such a long time ago. I was in the seventh grade. You're probably wondering why in the world I'm thinking about such an old song. It just popped up on one of my Spotify lists. I get flashes of middle school dances in a gymnasium that no longer exists with an ancient PA system belting out scratchy noises attempting to be music. I'm certain "We Built this City" was one of those songs.

In Sheridan, Arkansas, where I grew up, there were a lot of changes happening in the 7th grade. My world expanded. I had known and grown up with all the same kids since kindergarten. Then in 7th grade, we had an influx of students from surrounding towns. Many call it consolidation for economic reasons. History has revealed it was what we now call "white flight." After the 1957 Little Rock Nine crisis at Central High School, many surrounding towns began to consolidate schools outside of the city. Since President Eisenhower deployed federal forces to ensure Black students' safety while integrating public schools, there were many who thought they were clever enough to work around it. The end result was there were many large school district outside of Little Rock city limits. Obviously, this was before my time, but a few decades later I still learned about it. No, no one called it "White Flight." That would sound too crass. It didn't get appropriately named until years later.

As far as a small town seventh grader goes, my life got so much bigger. All these new students came into our classrooms. City kids with long distance telephone numbers. We had local and long distance phone services back then. These kids had 12-13 years of life before we even met them. It was exciting. Many more cute boys. Many more cute girls. They played in different softball and baseball leagues. They had cooler clothes. I don't remember thinking these were just more kids like me, because I didn't feel like they were. Regardless of their color, creed or religion, these new kids came from a world outside of the only small one I had ever known. Life grew. My world got so much bigger. Many of my closest friends from high school were these very kids. My oldest friend, who is no longer with us, befriended one of these east end kids. Granted, he had a vested interested because this particular east ender had a cute cousin he had eyes for, but we all became inseparable. These were the years we went to parties and school dances. The years that we snuck out of the house and rode around on scooters. Had our first kisses and tried to choke down alcohol. These years were part of growing up and a very big piece of who we are today.

I'm trying not to cry about Hollis. Almost every childhood memory I have includes him, so his friends became my friends. It's sad because I miss him, but I'm also smiling as I remember all the parts of him that are still with me everyday. Now, he has grandkids and beautiful grown children that are helping him live on. I'm still able to stay close to his friend and the cute cousin, who became the mother of his children.

Without the east end and surrounding consolidating schools, my world would have been so much smaller. Losing loved ones is always sad, but losing their memories is not just sad, but inexcusable. We built are lives from these memories. They are a thread that continuously runs through the fabric of our world. It's our history. Good, bad and ugly - it's all a part of us.

Not surprising to most but, there were horrible reviews of Jefferson Starship's hit song in 1985. Many thought it was a statement against corporations and big businesses. From what I've read, the writers wrote it in response to the closure of many of the live dance clubs in LA. Their world was changing and they were rebelling, so to speak. Reminding everyone that "they built this city on rock n roll." A former magazine editor was quoted saying the song, "purports to be anti-commercial but reeks of '80s corporate-rock commercialism."

Maybe it was. Maybe it wasn't. It was rated as one of the worst songs of all time. From what I can tell, these ratings were based on the contradicting themes the song supposedly represented. I'm not going to lie. I liked the song. I can still hear it in that old broken down gym. Contradictory themes seemed to be present everywhere in the 70s and 80s. Not just in LA with musicians, but even in small town Arkansas.

When the new kids came to my school in 7th grade, I was nervous and excited. My world would never be the same. History demands change. It didn't happen at once. Big changes that will affect our world for centuries happen slowly. It would be years before I truly understood racism, and honestly, I know I'm still ignorant in many ways. I'm a work in progress. Rome wasn't built in a day.

Recently, I read that even Jefferson Starship members have complained about "We Built this City." They said that it was supposed to be idealist, yet the sound is synthetic and commercialized. I guess when looking back, maybe they don't feel they did enough to build the city. Maybe they weren't rebellious enough, or maybe they sold out to commercialization. Someone is always playing corporation games. Who cares, they always change their names.

Was their hit song enough to change the world or rebuild a city? Probably not, but they did what they did with the resources they had available at the time. I can't justify all of my stupid choices as an adolescent, but , I also did the best I could at the time with the resources I had available. I make no excuses for previous government officials either, but I do think everyone learns from their mistakes. It's our history. Every bad choice in my life has led to who I am today and I wouldn't change one thing. I've lost a lot, but look at how far I've come. In 2026, my world is bigger and brighter than when I was in 7th grade. That's the badassness of life. We make mistakes and then learn and grow. That's how we will build this world.