by Saint Dirty Face

Every city tells a story, but some cities whisper the truth through their streets.
You don’t need a map — just a little time to think.

Start with Obama Avenue, once the great artery into the heart of the metropolis. A straight, proud road built on the idea that anyone could reach the center if they worked hard enough. It was the kind of street that made people believe in upward mobility, in progress, in the promise that tomorrow might actually be better than today.

Rome would’ve approved.
They believed the fastest way from point A to point B was a straight line — so they built straight roads, straight aqueducts, straight paths for armies, ideas, and ambition. Straight lines are the geometry of confidence.

But confidence makes the powerful nervous.

Because straight lines don’t just move people.
They connect people.
They empower people.
They equalize people.

And that’s when the architects of the city — the ones who never appear on camera, never stand in line, never get their hands dirty — stepped in and said:

“Whoa, slow down. We don’t need them here with us.”

So they did what power always does.
They didn’t ban the road.
They didn’t close the gates.
They didn’t declare martial law.

They simply redesigned the map.

They bent the straight lines.
They curved the roads.
They softened the angles.
They turned the direct path into a scenic detour.

And in place of the old artery, they unveiled the gleaming marvel of civic engineering:

13th Boulevard.

A grand, sweeping loop named after the oldest loophole in the book — the one that says freedom is guaranteed… except when it isn’t. The one that turns dissent into “crime” and rebellion into “correction.” The one that quietly removes anyone who steps out of line and calls it justice.

13th Boulevard is beautiful.
Wide.
Efficient.
Optimistic.

It feeds the masses with the illusion of progress.
It lets them feel like they’re moving forward.
It gives them just enough momentum to believe the system works.

Until the curve hits.
Until the loop closes.
Until they realize they’ve been driving in circles, burning fuel and hope in equal measure.

Because the architects understand something simple:

If the ants ever figure out they outnumber the grasshoppers, the whole system collapses.

So the roads must curve.
The routes must detour.
The mansion on the hill must always stay visible — but never reachable.

You can see the promise land.
You just can’t arrive.

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🐜 The Three Classes of the Curved‑Road City

On the left side of the streets, you find the Worker Ants — the majority.
They’re given education, but only enough to keep the machines running.
They’re given comfort, but only enough to keep them quiet.
They’re given opportunity, but only enough to keep them chasing.

They’re not oppressed.
They’re managed.

On the right side, you find two more classes.

First, the Believers — the ones who think they’re above the workers because the system tells them they are. They’re fed a narrative that flatters them, convinces them they’re closer to the top, and keeps them defending a structure that doesn’t actually serve them.

And behind them, hidden in the shadows, sits the final class — the Architects.
The 1%.
The storytellers.
The mapmakers.

They write the rules.
They draw the streets.
They decide who gets labeled a “criminal” and who gets applauded as a “success story.”

They understand the math:
If the ants ever stop believing the story, the boulevard stops looping.

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🔄 The Loop: Hope → Debt → Exhaustion

The system doesn’t need to crush you.
It just needs to exhaust you.

It doesn’t need to silence you.
It just needs to distract you.

It doesn’t need to imprison you.
It just needs to convince you the cage is your fault.

Give people the promise of money, but never the promised land.
Give them the dream of progress, but never the straight line.
Give them the mansion on the hill, but keep the driveway curved.

Meet the new boss.
Same as the old boss.

The streets change.
The signs change.
The slogans change.

But the loop stays the same.

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🧠 The First Step Out

Maybe — just maybe — the first step out of the loop is simple:

Stop watching.
Stop buying in.
Start asking for proof instead of promises.

Because the moment the ants stop believing the story,
the boulevard stops looping
and the city finally has to answer for the map it built.

Stay Dirty.

Stay Dangerous.

Stay Rebellious.