It's hard to describe differences because there are so many surface similarities. We've got Subway and BP and Aldi, thank heavens.
But there are differences. Statistically, this part of Missouri is more married, MUCH less educated (69.3% of A2 citizens have a bachelor's or higher vs. 29.3% here), and slightly whiter and poorer than my part of Michigan. Unofficially, people also appear to be more patriotic, more enthusiastic about eating pig, and less enthusiastic about sprouted bread and veggie burgers.
Sure, it's hard not to wish occasionally that I were somewhere a little more single-feminist-vegetarian-snob-friendly, like New York, but realistically I think I'm better off here. Traffic, pollution, and close neighbors do not appeal to me. I've got a house where there is NO noise at night (apart from my own damn cat), an easy 20 minute drive to work, a free parking space at work, a state park nearby, and access to an academic library. The students are mostly smart and eager and, heh, if I can help them learn a thing or two about library catalogs and Google, I guess I've got a mission in life.
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1 comment:
so glad to hear you're staying on the vegetarian straight and narrow. it really is a much highter state of being.
how is dear Julio adjusting to the south?
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