Another Roxana Is Possible

When asked about the refinery, a lot of people respond similarly: it provides for our community, but simultaneously, it pollutes our community.  Some describe it as a love/hate relationship for the refinery.  I find myself in a similar place--I wouldn't want to chase away jobs or lose a major (if not the only) moneymaker in the area but I must ask, are those our only options?  It's either no refinery and clean air or refinery and dirty air (and all the things that go along with both)?  Or do you think there is another solution? Perhaps there is another way possible for things to work out.  

I think it is this false dichotomy that keeps everyone chugging along with the status quo which continues to cause major health issues for some residents and even students!  I can't help but compare it to some sort of pagan sacrifice.  How many people will have to suffer for it to no longer be worth all of the supposed economic support the community is gaining from the refinery? 


There has to be an alternative but we will only begin to take steps towards such a thing if we step away from our apathy and our assumed powerlessness. We have the power to create.  We have the ability to change our community--to change the future--and we need to because we know better.  We are lacking in only one thing, and that is creativity. Fortunately for us we have an entire high school of young minds involved in the issue.  Perhaps our most valuable resource in Roxana, Illinois, is the youth attending Roxana High School, not the refinery.  And, instead of readily turning our heads as another young life is affected by the refinery, we should empower the young people in our lives to work towards another way of living.

Paresthesia

I have been living back in my hometown for about 5 months now.  It has been an interesting transition.  When I first moved back, I thought I was going to ignite some fire within myself and my neighbors.  I hoped everyone's eyes would raise to the bright glowing flame in the sky, we would all shout in unison  "NO MORE OIL!"  But I more or less started to wander as I went looking for kindling-sticks and found myself back into the bonds of my gasoline-filled car.

With over 2,200 acres of property, the refinery touches the fence lines of four different communities.

I do not have an easy solution for my problem or for the larger problem that involves the beloved earth under the refinery tanks, the river nearby or the animals that use to hip-hop around where the smoke now rises.  I use to be able to pass by such a scene and say to myself, "it is sad, but there is a plan of redemption, I am sure."  I would drive by the refinery that is building up, taking over the fields of our genetically engineered corn and soy beans, pushing it's way nearly on top of the grocery store which is conveniently close to the new highway (easy for the trucks) and I'd think, "oh, there must be hope, let's just look the other way." But, now I look the other way and there is a street named after a lawyer that is now in prison, 2 new credit union buildings and 2 new car dealerships.  I sadly whisper with great assurance, "we are fucked."

I use to breath easy when I would get to this point but now the air is getting a little thicker.  I use to think there was a plan but I just didn't get the memo (still a plan, nonetheless).  Now I am beginning to think that there is no plan, the supposed memo was just something we told ourselves so we could sleep at night.  There is real danger and no one is doing anything about it.  The plants are dying, people are dying, and no amount of money is going to undo the death that is happening all around us.

(Although it may help with medical bills) Alton Telegraph: Man Sues Refinery

And now for my first ACTION:

Feel pain.  Let the pins and needles come.  Take a good look around, acknowledge the life and the death.  Allow the blood to return to the numb parts.  It hurts... but you can't expect any movement from a body that is still asleep.

Go Shells!

I grew up near a small village called Roxana in Southern Illinois.  During my school years, I attended Roxana District’s grade school, junior high school and senior high school all located within a couple blocks of my parents' house.  I spent most of my summers swimming at the Roxana Community Pool and playing softball in the high school diamonds.  As with most childhoods, everything that has been and continues to be is called normal.  So, although it had much to offer to the rest of the world, its most notable (and noticeable) contribution was the oil refinery located at the edge the football field --- normal.  And, as I reached high school, cheering for our mascot the “shells” and referring to our mighty mascot’s dominion as “shell country” was also completely normal.  It wasn’t until this member of the Honors Society graduated college and returned to her high school track that she realized how abnormal it was to have an oil company for a school’s rallying cry. (During my four years at the high school we didn’t have a live mascot, but then again, we did have a refinery tank painted with our school colors… maybe that counts?)