We have been having an online exchange about cool (and a little pricier than the CVS variety) flip-flops, an innovation like many moving from west to east. It hit a nerve; we live in different places and the prevailing winds over time cause us to bend in different directions. I will always be a New Yorker: I came of age there and my extended family is there. I migrate back to the theater and shop for deep discounts, but living in the rural Midwest for 18 years has also made its mark.
I read a letter to the editor in the NYT this morning from a new Stanford Phd who just moved from Palo Alto to Bloomington to teach here in the religious studies department. He was reacting to a NYT piece on Silicon Valley millionaires who feel poor by comparison to others in their community. He observed that by moving here, he and his wife suddenly felt not just economically secure, but even privileged. The income distribution here is a very shallow curve. I have been commuting to California and hope eventually to call it home, but I cannot get used to the differences and paradoxes. In Marin, people are green and left, but consume like crazy and yell at you in traffic. What is the impact of how, and where, we choose to live?
I have decided to keep my house in Bloomington as a refuge in my old age (Eight Post Ninety).
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment