An Interview With a Relative

Welcome to the blue collar urban center of cow, New York. I find myself in my great Uncle pass ons doddering brick home in the totality of South Buffalo. The house has the familiar smell of old people, in the antechamber are a pair of work boots the leather old and worn-out, the soles well depleted. A layer of dust has formed on the boots that have remained uninfluenced for decades. As I move closer to the kitchen I can reveal the recognizable sound of stainless firebrand clinking on ceramic, the throbbing noise can only be one liaison Uncle Wills stirring his ever present cup of joe.I jockey this wonder is going to take a bit so I head to the fridge to find a cold beverage. Inside the fridge, snub juice I thought ugh, tap water will do. My Uncle begins by referenceing me. Uncle Will is curious to know how Im doing in school day and if I like living in Kansas. We talk about family, cars and pets(he has a very fat cat). I dont want this interview to be formal and sti ff so I casu tout ensembley turn tail the conversation to his earlier years. I want to de musical compositiond him about WWII further this is not what I want to focus on.I do look about his service in the United States Army scantily to operate an idea of how his age in the army prepared him for entering the speculate market. In his tour of duty he saw himself promoted three times, at long last to the rank of Captain and led a company of sixty men. This is all I want to know of his brief military service. I ask about his homecoming and the first thing he makes is the excellent egression the economy in Buffalo has make, it was as if the depression never happened he says with a half smile and a look of satis accompanimention.The best thing is not only was the city of Buffalo prospering the entire state from the Atlantic to the Pacific was too. I sit quiet and attentive just letting him talk. Its like a history lecture only its just me attend and center, completely interest ed in the subject. I want to know more about Buffalo and the gambols available to him so I implore. You could just see the smiles on everyones faces, people travel with a bounce in their step he tells me. The reason for the smile faces was that Buffalo was home to Bethlehem Steel the second largest steel producer in the nation.Bethlehem Steel employed tens of thousands of the citys people they offered good bribe and a unionized work force, these things kept the grins ear to ear. The steel was in the first place sent to Detroit to fuel the auto industries record sales. The primary means to apotheosis the steel was the railroad and this is where Uncle Will found his calling. He was hired for the note almost immediately. His time leading troops in combat made him the top choice for the conductor position. Old Will describes his new job as Love at First sight.Will adore the sound of the methodic turning of the locomotives wheels, the hustle and bustle of the dog yard and the fac t that he had the privilege to literally drive the economy in a 200 ton, 7000 horsepower machine. The most efficient means of transportation, steel on steel, he says idealisticly. He now commanded trains with at least sixty blow cars just like the company of soldiers he led just a short while ago. Uncle Will informs me that though the job often kept him away a lot with trips to Chicago and other mid-western cities he was proud to be transporting the materials to help the U.S prosper. He coveted every snatch he spent with his locomotive the diesel powered Dual-Service Erie-Built Train Master, I called her Audrey after Audrey Hepburn, they showed her movies to us in the service Uncle Will laughs as he finishes his statement. Audrey was navigating her way through the extensive network of railways across the domain and with that flush I feel a bit of admiration of the industry. His devotion to the train industry is fascinating. I ask him to tell me more about his duties as a conduc tor. The conductor has the duty of accelerating, breaking, changing tracks and supervising the crew, pretty important, he adds with a chuckle. His days on the helm of the locomotive began to blur together days became months and months turned to years but he says every time I pushed the accelerator I still had that goose bump good awareness I felt the first time I pushed her to full speed. Buffalo was still enjoying economic growth through the mid-sixties still thrive on Americas appetite for steel.In the late sixties as my Uncle explained he noticed a change, less noise at the rail yard the sound of wheels turning was less prevalent the methodic rung slowing down just like buffalos economy. Everyone could sense the change and the smiles began to fade. I want to know the reason for this change in demand. Uncle Will proclaimed with anger in his voice Foreign steel was being imported from places like China and Korea. It was much cheaper and industry wants to surrender money. T he lack of demand for Buffalos number one exporting closed the doors of Bethlehem and Republic Steel.Thousand lost their jobs. You could call this moment in time the death of our city he adds. This was and is the beginning of the continual evenfall of the Queen City. Uncle Will was right unemployment rates were 6% and today is 9. 6% according to the New York State Department of Labor (www. labor. state. ny. us). This downturn change all subsequent history. Unemployment caused crime rates to rise, drug use was uncontrolled on the east side of town and it was spreading at a rapid rate.Today buffalo is littered with abandoned homes even rhetorical Roman Catholic churches have seen their doors and windows boarded up. The city as I knew it was gone(a) with these words I hear a solemn sigh. I cute this interview to be about how the railroad industry affected his flavor however by the way it started I should have known the interview was just a means for Uncle Will to tell me about the city he watched grow to greatness and the melancholy it brings him to watch its decline.I coadjutor out the window there is a light blanket of shock covering the concrete and the small bush he has in his front yard. It looks pretty and peaceful but looks can be deceiving. Uncle Will mentions that even in his neighborhood crime was creeping in the house just two doors down was burglarized just a calendar week ago he proclaims with a deep sadness in his eyes. I look closer at Uncle Williams face tired and worn like the work boots in the front hall, his soul wearing away.This man has done so much in his life he volunteered when his country needed him and guided trains on the veins of Buffalo, pumping its blood of steel around the fledging nation. Without sadness there cannot be joy and without depression there cannot be growth. alas this weary old man is still sitting in his old red recliner coffee cup in hand sodding(a) out the window at the city streets once home to the lau gh of playing children now quiet and desolate. He says Id intrust this place but there are too many memories in this old house, too many memories in this old city.