Hi there. Who are you?
Please respond to any of the following questions that grab you:
• What is something you cherish about your community (neighborhood, town, place of worship, etc.)?
• Is it important to you that you live in a certain place? Do you feel a sense of southern or northern identity?
• How does your geographical upbringing affect your worldview/values?
This post was edited on: 2013-02-05 at 10:17 AM by: klenci (Moderator)
2 Replies
Today, my husband and I trudged through two feet of snow and 60+ mph gusts down to the town beach to watch the blizzard's high tide. Others were there for the same reason; huddled against the stinging wind, we stood in awe of the breakers that slammed in and tossed spindrift several stories into the air. Neighbors shook their heads and smiled in shared astonishment.
I cherish the ocean here in Rockport, MA where my family has been based for four generations. Its inexhaustible and varied beauty brings the town together in so many ways -- family beach life and the 4th of July bonfire in summer, windy autumn walks for chowder in harbor coffee shops, and winter storms like the one this weekend. Rockport is known as a "quaint summer art colony," so we're not only surrounded by the ocean but by images that celebrate it, as well.
I never forget, when I look out across the water, that beyond the horizon is Europe -- if I could throw hard enough, the pebble in my hand would hit someone in Lisbon. When my daughter served in the Peace Corps, I'd stand on the rocky shore and beam hellos to her in Mali, beyond Senegal. All that open blue space links us to people just on the other side of it, and my recurrent ah-ha is: I live on the edge of a continent!
I've traveled a lot -- lived in the midwest and on the west coast as well as in Japan. I see glory in mountains, farmland, and desert. But I most cherish the Atlantic Ocean that defines my community.
I grew up in two different kinds of communities just 40 miles apart in Massachusetts -- Rockport, the village I described previously, and Cambridge, Boston's next-door neighbor. Like all stereotypes, the ones about residents of those places hold true, so my world view and values are, accordingly, not surprising.
In line with my northeast urban experience, I'm a social and political liberal who grimaces at jokes about "the People's Republic of Cambridge." As a townie who grew up in the shadows of Harvard, MIT, and BU, I believe that education is the greatest advantage we can have and pass along. My take on diversity tends to be more about global identities than about race.
Cambridge is a bubble, for sure; my perspectives are somewhat inflexible and definitely limited by my geographical upbringing -- as well as my status as former flower child (I'm old). I was surprised, during my first tour of Charleston, SC, by references to "Yankees," and "The War of Northern Aggression." That my son (a southerner now by marriage and location) owns guns for self-protection is still beyond my comprehension, 'tho I'm trying...
The Rockport part of me leads me to value hard work whatever the job. My friends and neighbors are mostly blue-collar people working their tails off to get by --multiple jobs, double shifts, back-breaking (even dangerous) work like lobstering and fishing. Here in town, neighbors help one another out when there is need. That's the micro-experience that leads to my supportive stance on macro issues like social security and national health care.
This post was edited on: 2013-02-10 at 09:17 AM by: mfox
Martha Fox
Feb 9, 2013 at 6:51 PM