Yay: this is great

So ... there's a nice civil exchange between Ari and Mr. X on Ari's blog. See what happens when you get someone who thinks before he responds? And yes, I mean unlike yours truly.

But it wasn't my fight. If it had been, I MAY have been less reactionary. Plus I like to spark debate.

It touched a nerve for me, by the way. I was once, as a high school student, told by a teacher to "go back to England, or wherever you came from" - in front of the whole class. It was that last sentence, in which Mr. X told Ari to move back to Cambridge, that set me off.

But, you know, no matter how much Salemi sets me off with his thinking he has the blogger gig on the soon-to-be New England Development website wrapped up, I'm not going to point out what's so wrong about that thinking here on my blog. I only comment about it on his blog. As often as I can.

So anyway, enough levity. Already I've learned from a comment on my last post that Old Newburyport feels shut out. OK, that explains a lot.

I've actually heard a good deal about some of the newcomers here and to what lengths they will go to fulfill their agenda. So that's why it's a series. It's not just about Old Newburyport; it's also about the 'new' people.

The ones who made death threats against city councillors who did not support last fall's override initiative, for example. The ones who see the Waterfront West development as a personal cash cow ("the value of my home will go up").

That is just as repugnant, if not more so, than speaking out from behind a shield of anonymity. But none of them have a blog - as far as I know.

Just to be clear - I know it hurts the natives. It hurts me, and I've only lived here for 3-1/2 years. Moving around as much as my family did when I was growing up, I have no place to feel that passionately about. And yes, you can miss what you never had.

So Ari is apparently a symbol for all that Old Newburyport hates about the newcomers. I have to say, when he posted something a few days ago and said such-and-such happened while he was waiting in line for his chai, I winced. Not because he has no right to like or drink chai or say he drinks chai - but I'm sure no one in Old Newburyport drinks chai.

And I could already sense something along the lines of what happened yesterday brewing (pun intended).

But I'm sure I've said plenty on here of similar ilk. (This is real stream of consciousness. I hope you like it.)

Even my sister (the one who lives in Gloucester but is currently on the Outer Banks, on vacation), when I spoke with her yesterday said, "It's where we go for our chai ... I know, I know, we've become total yuppies."

Speaking of sis, she's sending me some photos and an account of a protest she and hubby came upon on the beach there. The situation sounded sort of familiar ... piping plovers, fishermen ...