The Cody Word
  • December 5, 2008 03:57 PM EST by Cody Willard

    Reflections on My Hometown

    Fox sent me a questionnaire to fill out about my hometown as we broadcast live from Ruidoso, NM where I lived from the age of 1 til 23 when I moved to NYC.  We'll be broadcasting live at the Win, Place and Show honkey tonk bar on main street during Happy Hour today from 5-6pm EST.

    It has been so much fun to come home to Ruidoso with NYC-career people...weird, but I suppose juxtaposing Win, Place and Show with the Bull & Bear at the Waldorf-Astoria is weird by its very nature.

    1.) What has changed about your hometown the most since you left?

    The town has grown, and there's been an infiltration of national chains -- I shoulda shorted Starbucks (SBUX) the day it got into Ruidoso.  The good news is that most of the locals avoid the chains like the plague.  The bad news is the tourists do go to the brands they know.  Traitors (sorta just kidding -- but I end Happy Hour saying "Support Your Local Business" for a reason.)

    2.) What one characteristic in your life now do you credit your hometown for planting in you?

     

    The only thing permanent in life is family.  And I love mine for supporting me so much over the years in every way they could.

    3.) What do you miss the most?

     

    The outdoors and my many friends and my family.  I miss Ruidoso A LOT!

    4) Given the chance, would you move back? Why?

     

    I hope to start a family and move back to Ruidoso and be a writer or something someday.  Gimme five or ten years...

    5.) What economic opportunity has your hometown lost?

     

    Wal-Mart (WMT) came in and begged our sold-out Republican/Democrat city council to give them tax advantages that local small businesses don't have.  Unlevel playing fields ruin a local community's vibrant economy.  Wal-Mart later got even more tax advantages from the sold out Republican/Democrats in Ruidoso Downs and the evil chain that can't compete without welfare and cronyism continues to suck earnings out of the community.

    6.) What does your hometown not get enough credit for?

     

    When I was a kid Ruidoso was known as the best kept secret in the southwest.  I sorta wanna keep it that way (all this coverage today notwithstanding!)
    Survive this economic revolution at http://RevolutioNewsletter.com
    Read my blog at http://codywillard.com
    Facebook me at http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=763890180
    Myspace me at http://www.myspace.com/codyonfox

     

     

notatexan

Hey Cody, I just went to check the latest Ruidoso News and the first thing on the page was a youtube video of you- "Cody Willard comes home". I am one of the blessed people who grew up there and had the privilage of having your mom for senior english. Keep up the great work, we are all proud of you.

December 14, 2008 at 10:32 pm

pegge ingels smothers

cody, saw you on jay leno. awesome. i am the old lady that worked for p mote when you worked with rod. i am really happy that you are doing so well. keep it up. my son, travis had your mother for english his sr year. at teacher conferences i think we talked about you more than travis. she's very very proud of you. if you have any ideas on where to put my money, let me know. i live in grove oklahoma now, but will always love ruidoso. later. pegge

December 9, 2008 at 1:18 pm

happy sacks

PHILADELPHIA — Trent Cole is not exactly sure how many friends and family members will be in attendance Sunday when he returns to his native Ohio with the Eagles to play the Cincinnati Bengals. He does know his No. 1 critic will be there.

December 7, 2008 at 1:21 pm

aaron

I really enjoyed your reports from Ruidoso. It was the closest ski resort to Texas where I grew up. When I was in college I would take Southwest from Austin to Lubbock during the winter, and meet up with some high school friends who went to Tech. We would drive to Ruidoso and ski Saturday and Sunday. On Saturday night we would get one motel room with most of us sleeping on the floor. The rule for who got the beds was whoever passed out first. (we did a lot of drinking) Then the drive back to Lubbock Sunday night and the flight to Austin Monday morning. I hadn't thought about this in years so thank you for bringing back good memories for me.

December 7, 2008 at 11:00 am

joe g

cody, what will you write about and why wait?

December 6, 2008 at 9:48 am

Ryan

It's a small world, I am from Ruidoso and have been watching your show for a while and one day my wife says, "I teach with his mom!". I had no clue you were from here. Anyway, we still watch everyday and think it is great how you stand up to bailout bums like Citigroup who think it is ok to spend $400 million of our money on the new field for the Mets that we will never get to go to. Keep up the good work, we are proud to have a wall street rebel like yourself from our hometown!

December 5, 2008 at 6:00 pm

about this blog

  • Cody Willard is an anchor on the FOX Business Network. Willard is also the principal of an investment management company. He was a long-time featured columnist for the Financial Times and TheStreet.com as well as a regular featured economist and stock picker on CNBC's ''Kudlow & Company."

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