Dejavu, no titties for you.

One thing that recently caught my attention is that we are no longer allowed to have full nudity in Kalamazoo. This caught me by surprise, I had heard nothing about it, then there was a news cast saying de ja vu would no longer allowed to do what it does. I used to work for them when I was about 18, and I can in no way defend it as a great example of how to live ones life. However, I think when you are an adult you should be free to either work at a place like that, or frequent it at your leisure.

But all in all what really got me was the woman who apparently was spearheading the effort to get the law passed. She looked exactly like what one would expect from a person seeking a ban on this kind of thing. This 40 something woman, probably a mother of a half-dozen, well taken care of children, was speaking as though the dancers where coming into her house and offering table dances to her kids. She said something to the effect that she did not want that type of element in our city. If any of you out there are aware of where the Vu is located, I would hardly call it “in our city”. I also sincerely doubt this lady lives anywhere near the place, or Kalamazoo proper in general. So, seeming how I tend to question my knee jerk reactions to things, if I actually feel something about anything, I step back and go “ok what is it that I am really reacting to here”. So I googled her.

Mary Balkema is the Kalamazoo County Treasurer. I thought it kind of weird that a treasurer would spearhead what seems like a moral initiative. Not to mention that this may directly cost some folks their jobs and the city some taxes. Given I am sure the Dejavu is not a huge financial boon to Kalamazoo, but given the state of our economy in the state as well as the city it seems an odd time to be shutting any business down. On top of this, it seems she is best known for her opposition to a Kalamazoo Equal Rights ordinance. Stating that she was doing so in spite of a “fear of retaliation of the homosexual activists”. One wonders if Rosa Parks would have been so brave if there were “homosexual activists” to contend with.

Now all of this is laughable to me, and in general I have little care for politics. I worked at the Vu back when I was 19 for a few months, and really haven’t been there since. I can say it isn’t the best of all things ethically or morally, but in general there are many larger items to contend with these days than a strip club in Kalamazoo. Also, if I thought that I could work in a strip club and make upwards of $400 a night I would do so. Even if it meant gyrating my bits on some sweaty fat dude with a hard-on, I would sleep comfortably on a pile of sweaty dollar bills I made that night. I know for a fact that working in a club can be nightmarish at times, but then again working construction can be just as bad. All things considered who is the DeJaVu hurting? This is actually a question. Women volunteer to work there, men go there of their own volition.

It’s not like some Jurassic Park of titties, where if one isn’t careful the dancers will break out and start table dancing all over the city. I am sure a great many of the girls that work there are fine folks, who have just chosen a job outside of the social norm. Given my normally puritanical views on “kids these days” stripclubs seem about half as dangerous as the Disney Tart Generator spewing out Brittneys, Lindseys, and Mileys to those very same kids. I don’t know, am I just an idiot for thinking about any of this? Comments appreciated.