"The Pentecostal Home for Flying Children"

I'm preoccupied with longer pieces for today, so why don't you compensate for my blog neglect by picking up the latest Oxford American? To hook you, the first three paragraphs of "The Pentecostal Home for Flying Children":

In 1984, Shreveport was experiencing turbulent race relations, a woeful lack of economic growth, and a rash of flying teengers. The airborne bastards were the offspring of the Redbird--a handsome alien half-breed who had once made the cover of Life magazine for rescuing Chicago from The Stalinizer--a radioactive cosmonaut who could shoot lasers from his mouth.

Despite his success in Illinois, The Redbird didn't possess the necessary might to be a major-league superhero. In the world of superpowers, flight was pretty much table stakes. Who couldn't fly? Flying was just the delivery method, a mode of transportation for real super powers like invincibility, colossal strength, or energy blasts. You couldn't very well fly a super villain to death. Without invincibility and preternatural strength, how could you ever stop a nuclear missile? Sure, The Redbird, in those bright red tights, looked pretty up there doing loopy-loops in the sky, but other than marshalling Fourth of July parades, he really wasn't much use in America's fight against villainy. So The Redbird was relegated to the bush leagues. He was banished from Chicago and assigned to Shreveport.

Our town welcomed The Redbird with an unreserved embrace. Everyone loved the idea that we had our very own superhero to look after us. We didn't care if all he could do was fly. That was more than any of us could do. In fact, The Redbird united our city. We loved this alien half-breed with his magic red hair and his black mask, and this love we had for him overflowed from our hearts and spread to everyone in town. Redbird-mania transcended racial lines and mended our violent histories with one another. The Redbird allowed us to see the good in people--black, white, rich, or poor. Under The Redbird's watch, Shreveport entered a golden age.

For more sage thoughts on superheroes, check out David's comment on my Dark Knight review.