The Best and Worst of the U.S. When I Visit

The cracks are more obvious after a year away.

Greyson Ferguson
Counter Arts
Published in
7 min readOct 11, 2024

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Photo by Fiqih Alfarish on Unsplash

There’s a crack in my apartment wall.

It’s thin. It blends in with the white paint and shadows. Most days I don’t see it. It’s as much a part of the apartment decor as the kitchen table and the on-death’s-door sofa. And yet, when I do notice the crack when daylight hits it just right or my eyes wander and they’re caught in the net of the diagonal abnormality, I can’t help but think it grew.

The crack looks longer than the last time I looked. It’s more pronounced. It reached further up the wall. It’s rougher to the touch.

Maybe it isn’t and I’m just seeing what I’d temporarily forgotten. Or maybe it is.

I feel the same when returning to the U.S.

Once a year I travel back to the States to visit my mom and whatever family and friends are interested in seeing my mug. Most of the time, things look the same. Sure, the town I grew up in has newer buildings, the college kids look younger than ever, and a bottle of Coke costs a few dimes more than the previous visit.

And yet, for the most part, everything remains the same.

At least until I look closer.

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Greyson Ferguson
Counter Arts

You might hate my first story, but maybe you’ll like the next. Ever dream of moving out of the U.S.? I wrote a book that can help: https://t.ly/OcQYG