Small town blues
I'm thinking about returning to the big city, maybe this summer after I finish a Japanese class at the local college. I'm an urban gal. Small towns kind of freak me out; sometimes people react oddly if you aren't like them, and I'm different in so many ways from the dominant culture, even if I don't have visible body art.
I have discovered a strong empathy with my mother and grandmother, both of whom left rural Oregon homes as teens, the latter leaving two kids behind. My mom went to New York, where I grew up, when she was 18, and never left. I'm grateful I grew up there, with the Met and Guggenheim and MOMA as my playgrounds, but I was happy to leave when I turned 18 and reversed the pattern, heading west again for a different kind of freedom.
I have discovered a strong empathy with my mother and grandmother, both of whom left rural Oregon homes as teens, the latter leaving two kids behind. My mom went to New York, where I grew up, when she was 18, and never left. I'm grateful I grew up there, with the Met and Guggenheim and MOMA as my playgrounds, but I was happy to leave when I turned 18 and reversed the pattern, heading west again for a different kind of freedom.