Story time: Broken Hill

Broken Hill can be an odd place. For a start, most of the thing is over a mine.

When I was a kid I used to make forts out of mattresses. I would sit inside and believe myself nigh invulnerable. The fantasy would always come to an end however, when my neighbor - who weighed about 74 grams - would lightly sit on the top, sending the whole thing crashing down.
It's a testament to mankind that the city I call home is not in a similar situation.
Most evenings at around 7pm they let off dynamite underground, and half the city shakes for a few seconds. If we were watching a summer blockbuster about an alien invasion and the plot involved setting off explosions below your nan's house, I'm betting you'd cry foul. "Wouldn't the ground collapse?" You'd say. "They've done their research," I'd say, nodding sagely.
We'd then have a long argument over who would win, the aliens or Darth Vadar, and then end up wasting half the night wondering whether the Borg could assimilate the Sith.

Sci Fi tangent #1: I think it would depend on whether lightsabers could cut through the Borg's adaptive shielding, and whether the individual Force user's ability extended to the manipulation of individual nanoprobes.

Sci Fi tangent #2: I'd also wonder what kind of bloody awful movie we were watching. Cinema has already taught us that alien invasions can be stopped simply by closing a cupboard door. On a related note, why would aliens who are killed by contact with water invade earth? Bad choice. Now this is true sci-fi discussion - quibbling over details that no-one cares about. Han shot first.

To many people who live their lives here in The Silver City, only three locations exist within the universe: Broken Hill, Tadlaide, or Away. It's quite a robust system, allowing all people to be swiftly classified as one of three things: A local (people you welcome into your home), an extended family member (as almost all people living in 'Tadlaide - nearby South Australian capital Adelaide to the uninitiated - either moved there from Broken Hill or are related to someone there) or those From Away (he is 'From Away' they say as they stare at them in the supermarket).
I've always been a bit skeptical of the system. The first two locations are quite intuitive, but the Away label is troubling, as it can be applied just as accurately to someone from Sydney as it can be to an Alaskan seal fisherman. Although I've tried to think of a better way, there really isn't anything that captures the Broken Hill mindset so eloquently.

I've never felt particularly isolated in this place. That probably has a lot to do with the current age. By the time I was old enough to give a toss, this whole internet shebang was in full swing. Back when Broken Hill raised the curtain though, people were too concerned about being crushed by a giant rock a kilometre underground to hunt for Transformers the Movie script spoilers.

Sci Fi Tangent #3: I found them, it's gonna suck.

Another quirk of the city is its tendency to refer to people by their 'grading'.To elaborate, to the best of my understanding:

An A Grader is someone born in Broken Hill;

A B Grader is someone not born here, but has lived here for quite some time, preferably marrying an A Grader and having children;

A C Grader is a 'blow in', they've moved From Away, haven't been here very long and aren't even the secretary of the Lions Club or anything.

I believe it goes down from there, but my knowledge is spotty. I think there's also a special A+ Grader category, wherein you were born Locally to Local parents and your nan lives in the same dynamite-laden street.
People of a different nationality can have trouble claiming A Grade status to some of the older, crustier locals, regardless of parentage.
Engagement in the community - such as adopting the local and its many patrons - can occasionally move you up a grade after a decade or so.
Extraordinary engagement can bump you up immediately.
This is why there is always a Secretary of the Lions Club.