a long term commitment to this town of ours
After a long summer of hemming and hawing.. we made a decision that we are going to be staying here in Olympia . It was interesting how, rather than dragging us down, this seemed to resolve a lot of ongoing angst we both been having.
I've had a real love- hate relationship with this town for about 7 years now. Coming here, as some of was a poorly planned decision which I made at 25 . I was courted by the school here, then discarded when I didn't suit their internal politics and neurotic white liberal hippie vision of who their teacher should be. But that is water long under the bridge.. all of my former colleagues are gone, and any karmic imbalances have been evened out in a very satisfying way.
Oly, my friend Anne says, is a place I have never been able to understand, and never will. She has been here since 1971. There is a very transient nature to this place.. a lot having to do with the college. People are skittish about newcomers.. something I am beginning to understand, having had dicey interactions with drifters on several occasions. I don't know if I am right in thinking that there is more poverty and mental illness here than the average. But then also, a lot of creativity and pockets of intellectual brilliance. The quiet focus that I needed to hatch a business and the affordability to make it work on a shoestring. It is complicated and not only that it is going through some radical changes.
We went to Portland this weekend and were struck by the traffic, the noise, and still, the irresistible lure of the city. I think we will continue to land there often.. and be in both places.
I've had a real love- hate relationship with this town for about 7 years now. Coming here, as some of was a poorly planned decision which I made at 25 . I was courted by the school here, then discarded when I didn't suit their internal politics and neurotic white liberal hippie vision of who their teacher should be. But that is water long under the bridge.. all of my former colleagues are gone, and any karmic imbalances have been evened out in a very satisfying way.
Oly, my friend Anne says, is a place I have never been able to understand, and never will. She has been here since 1971. There is a very transient nature to this place.. a lot having to do with the college. People are skittish about newcomers.. something I am beginning to understand, having had dicey interactions with drifters on several occasions. I don't know if I am right in thinking that there is more poverty and mental illness here than the average. But then also, a lot of creativity and pockets of intellectual brilliance. The quiet focus that I needed to hatch a business and the affordability to make it work on a shoestring. It is complicated and not only that it is going through some radical changes.
We went to Portland this weekend and were struck by the traffic, the noise, and still, the irresistible lure of the city. I think we will continue to land there often.. and be in both places.