Oh Gadsden, I guess I would categorize you as somewhat bigger than a small, small town but far from a big city. I've grown up here and lived here for most of my life, and will hopefully never live here again after college. You've given me some good memories and some definite bad ones. You have come a long way in the past few years. For that, I am proud. Below, I've created a list of signs that you might be from good ol' Gad-rock.
1. When you tell people where you're from and you have to say, "Just about an hour from Birmingham."
2. If you went to Southside High School, you hung out at the Grub/McDonald's parking lot.
3. If you went to Hokes Bluff High School, you hung out at the Piggly Wiggly parking lot (better known as the "Pig").
4. If you went to Glencoe High School, you hung out in your own high school's parking lot.
5. If you want to go to the movies, you hit up the only one around, Premiere Cinemas.
6. There's only a handful of places to eat and you've been to each one of them 1,926,381,049,382 times.
7. Everyone knows everyone else's business.
8. You might have been heartbroken when Asahi was closed for a random two weeks this summer.
9. You or someone you know is an avid Donald Trump supporter.
10. Huge trucks that are obnoxiously loud don't even seem to bother you anymore.
11. When Krispy Kreme came into town, the line could have caused wrecks.
12. You've spent way too much money at our brand new Panera Bread.
13. When you're trying to find something to do but there is nothing to do.
14. After a high school football game you go eat at Waffle/Huddle house.
15. Even though you know this place is the worst, sometimes you still miss it.
If any of the above are relevant to you, you are most definitely from Gadsden. Our water might not be OK for infants or pregnant women to drink (see this article: http://whnt.com/2016/05/20/new-epa-health-advisory-about-chemicals-in-drinking-water-impacts-several-north-alabama-water-systems), we might be No. 87 on the list of most dangerous cities in the US (see this article:http://yellowhammernews.com/faithandculture/study-three-alabama-cities-ranked-among-nations-dangerous/), but we will overcome.
