(no subject)

[bedlamsbard]

Okay, I lied like a dog, I miss Ellensburg. It's just hard to have any connection to New Orleans, to Louisiana, or to Tulane, you know? There's just something about small towns and small high schools that can't be replaced by a big city, even if New Orleans isn't that much of a city.

(YES I AM WATCHING FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS AND THIS MIGHT BE VAGUELY RELATED. But not more than vaguely. Oh, high school. Yes, I know that is not what you hear on a daily basis, or, uh, ever.)

Comments

[realpestilence.livejournal.com]

The idea of living in a small town gives me the creeps. :)

[bedlamsbard.livejournal.com]

Mind you, my small town living experience wasn't anything like it is in the movies, where everyone knows everyone else's business. I also didn't live right in town; I lived outside of town.

Okay, I suppose there is an element of truth to the "everyone knows everyone else's business" thing. Parents call other parents up all the time to tell them, "Your daughter didn't hesitate long enough at a yield sign!"

[realpestilence.livejournal.com]

It's not just that public aspect of life, though it *is* something that would bother me. I'd be afraid of the limitations of small town life-I've visited my parents in *their* various small towns, from move to move, and I keep wondering what the hell do people *do*, there? For entertainment, for jobs, for enrichment? Not a lot of good museums or concerts, and if you get laid off/fired, you have to go far afield to look for another. (The local Wal-Mart closes and wipes out most of the town's employment, for example).That kind of thing.

At least in a medium-to-large city, there's always something to do, and more jobs to be had if you're willing to work at anything.

I suppose I wouldn't mind if I were retired and had a good pension and benefits, so I didn't have to worry about income.

[bedlamsbard.livejournal.com]

*shrugs* I'm definitely the wrong person to ask here; I have no life. Ellensburg is also a college town with a very good music department, so we get concerts -- guest concerts too; the Chieftains were here a couple years ago and it was awesome. Or you go out of town. High school football or basketball games, too. *wistful* (I'm going through Friday Night Lights right now; it's making me nostalgic.)

I suppose Ellensburg isn't that small of a town compared to some; we were around 15,000 with the college students, and probably around 8000 without. My high school was about 950, and graduated 200. (And we were the biggest school in the valley; the smallest graduated 3 last year. Now that's what we call a small town, and in that case, if you want a good education, you drive the hour or so every day to come to EHS, like a handful of my friends did.)

[realpestilence.livejournal.com]

A college town isn't the same as a regular small town! The schools draw performances, for one thing. I'd love to have seen The Chieftains. My area is a bunch of small cow-towns that have been growing over the last 20 years and have joined up into one big blob, basically. We've finally started to get some variety in restaurants, we've got a few movie theaters now, a shopping mall...a skating rink and a bowling alley, which is how you can tell it was a small town, once, they don't tend to have both of those in large cities around here. :) But we have no civic center for the arts *or* a sports stadium. I hope we get at least a music hall soon, I hate having to drive into Orlando for it. *grumbles*


My parents and sister lived in Colorado, once, in a small town called Hotchkiss...nearest city was Grand Junction...nearest big city to *that* was Denver. Any time you wanted to watch a movie, you had to drive several small towns over, or to go grocery shopping, or to do *anything*...drive through the mountains for about an hour. Not me!

[bedlamsbard.livejournal.com]

We've got two movie theatres and a bowling alley; no mall -- the nearest one's in Yakima, about forty minutes away. Well, Union Gap, to be more specific, but it's all the big Yakima blob. (Ellensburgers hate Yakima, by the way; that's where most of the schools we play are.)