Small Town

I was born in a small town, fell in love in a small town.......sing along when you know the words! Who doesn't like John Cougar (by far his best name)?

In keeping with my Colorado Tumbleweed theme, (I figured I might as well) I'm going to talk about big towns and small towns. Sounds good? Good.

Big towns like - oh, I don't know - say Denver, CO, and small towns like......geez, how about Edwards, CO. Gotta pick something right? They sit a mere 110.30 miles away (according to Mapquest - so who knows if that's true), but culture-wise are further apart than a bastard child and the rest of the family reunion.

But first let's talk about small towns versus big towns in general. You know, the big picture. You gotta look at the big picture. Right? Ok, big towns, hell let's call them cities, are well.....big. Some are really big and some are not so big (I know, my observational skills are impeccable). Denver is big, but not really big. Edwards is small, even bordering on really small. The obvious difference in big towns and small towns is simply the amount of stuff going on. Cities have more restaurants, more bars, more concerts, more sports, more organizations, more schools, and damn-it, more people. Of course, this also brings more crime, more traffic, more ghettos, more drugs, and more crowds. All of which come with more people.

It seems to me that small towns have more families and cities have more single people or married people with no kids or very small kids. If this is true, the only reasoning I can think of is that family folks head to the suburbs for what they believe to be better schools. The public education in cities has been notoriously inferior. Inferior, of course, to the self-proclaimed intellectually elite suburbanites. This actually is probably true. A friend of mine worked in the public school system in Atlanta and said that more time was spent maintaining order in the classroom than teaching and fostering learning (I can apply that scenario to every school in every city in this country right?). It’s a shame really; cities with such vibrancy and functionality are abandoned by family folks for green lawns, white picket fences, SUVs, 45 minute highway commutes, and supposedly better schools.

I can’t tell you how many couples with one kid in a stroller and one hanging on the leg of their mom, I’ve seen in the grocery store or burrito shop. There are even much more of those folks in Edwards than Avon or Vail. I guess that’s because it’s cheaper to live in the down-valley location of Edwards. We Americans love to save money you know. We like it, we love it, and we want some more of it.

Anyway, I guess I need to somehow sum up this piece of literary genius. I would sum it up in one word – variety. Cities have more variety. Good, bad, or indifferent, cities offer more variety. And from what I’ve experienced in my 27 years, people in small towns aren’t as interested in variety as people who live in cities. Small town folks (like John Cougar) like their little part of the world and their little routine. I know, I know, watch the generalizations…..but how else can you make sense of this world. You have to put some kind of order to what you are seeing by making generalizations. Maybe that will be my next blog topic, but for now let’s just hum the melody – Cannot forget from where is that I come from…………..Do Jack and Diane play into this at all?

Colorado Tumbleweed Continued.....

I realized that in my last post (see "Colorado Tumbleweed" August 26) I intended to "compare and contrast" the four places I've lived in Colorado, and I didn't compare and contrast anything. My high school english teacher would not be happy (especially since I didn't capitalize english). All I did was narrate my moves and give a little blurb about eash place. So why don't I make a school teacher proud?

Let's first summarize each place and my nutshell feelings about it:

Boulder - loved it
Colorado Springs - hated it
Denver - loved it (short but sweet)
Vail Valley - too soon to tell, but a bit lame at the moment.


Boulder was cool for a lot of reasons. I had friends for one thing. This isn't the doing of Boulder necessarily, but I was able to meet a lot of people through school and my living situation. I lived in a house with three other people. I counted one time and found out that I had eleven different roommates in my two and half years living there. The place was a swinging door of vagabonds. I definitely met a lot of interesting folks though. Boulder also had a "feel". A cool feel. By being a beatiful place, it attracted people with what I call "divergent" ways of thinking. I guess any college town has a bit of that feel, but Boulder was much more than a college town. I also heard somewhere that it had more psychotherapist per capita than any other city in the country. I don't know if that's true, but I believe it. For some reason, divergent thinking needs lots of psychotherapy. I don't know why. I suppose I could surmise, but that's a topic for another posting. Boulder was also comfortable for me. I was used to living there and it suited my lifestyle. Colorado Springs was the anti-Christ (metphorically speaking) of my lifestyle.

The Springs was strange initially because of it's size. About 400,000 people dwarfed Boulder's 100,000. There was more crime, slums, and of course, pawn shops. What is up with all the pawn shops in that town? I heard somewhere that all the military people would pawn all there stuff before they were shipped over-seas. Seems possible. I don't know if that's true or not. The people were totally different down there too. It seemed like most people my age were married with kids and owned houses. None if which I have. It seems like conservative people get married earlier and "settle down" earlier. Why is that? Another blog topic I suppose. I think they miss out on a lot. I may be rethinking my words in ten years if I'm still without all those stables of American "success", but for now, I'm pretty comfortable with my stance. I guess that the essense of conservatism is a low tolerance for risk. And if you define success by having all these aforementioned staples, then when the opportunity arises, you'd jump on it. Religion also harbours some of this sentiment I think. If you're brought up with this kind of mentality, it's all you know. Nevertheless, it didn't click with me. So when the opportunity arose to get out, I was on it like an evalgelist on late night TV.

Denver is a slick place. Its a big city, but where I was living (Washington Park) didn't really have the city feel. I felt like I was in the suburbs, but only about five miles from downtown. I know there are some pretty nasty places in Denver, but I didn't see it. Granted, I was living in a very desirable part of the town, but I got around a bit. Denver seems like an affordable way to live in a major city. Compared to east coast cities (or even Colorado Springs) the majority of Denver is safe. I didn't feel uncomfortable anywhere I went, even at night. There is a lot going on too. I would run in Wash Park and I couldn't believe the amount of volleyball being played. There must have been ten volleyball games going on at any one time on summer evenings. These people seem to be having a fantastic time too. I never got too into volleyball, but maybe I should. The people in Denver were, in my experience, more friendly than the Springs. There were more people I knew up there too, so maybe that helped, but overall, the feeling was more suitable to my personality. Plus, Denver is great because of the easy access to the mountains. Just a quick jaunt up I-70 and you're in the thick of it. But why be a quick jaunt away, when you can live there?

The Vail Valley is just a small town in my mind. A small town with a multi-million dollar ski industry and some of the richest people in the world rolling through whenever their little heart desires. It makes this small town a bit quirky. Everything up here revolves around the ski industry and the development brought on by the resort. Really, the only careers (that I see) up here are in the hotel management arena or the real estate and construction industry. Houses sell faster than Tickle Me Elmo's did about ten years ago (don't ask) and there is a real estate outfit in just about every commercial complex. I haven't gotten a good sense of the people here yet. They seem nice, but definitely into their own thing. It will be interesting to see how things play out, however, my feeling right now is that Vail (Edwards) may not be as welcoming as Denver.

So now with a pleased English teacher, correct capitalization, and a well compared state, the tumbleweed rolls on. Albeit in one place for the moment.