How is wholeness related to place? It's not a willful thing: I won't be whole in Houston. It's not about the continuity of the self: I can't be the same in Houston. Is it a comment about New Orleans in particular? Is that what differentiates a place like New Orleans from the "no place" that is Houston? Do people in Memphis feel the same way? In Denver? In Hearne?
Or College Station, Texas? Sounds to me like someone's heart remains in Summit County, Colorado...
Clearly true. Two thoughts occur to me. One is, I've got to figure out a way for me to be home here, which is a difficult task made easier by H's birth. This is the only home she's known, after all. Why pine after the pines when that place is gone for me. Which brings up, two, that Summit County is lost for me in a way that it isn't for you (and, more broadly, Colorado is lost for me in a way it isn't for greatblueheron), simply because there's no cause for me to return, periodically.
Hmmm.... thanks for clarifying something for me, yadernye.
But the reality is that Summit County is lost to me as well, at least, the place we both knew growing up. Change affects every place, some at a faster rate than others. For me Summit County is at least three distinct places, corresponding to the times I left and then returned. Well, now four, I guess, since I left for good in spring 2004. And thanks for serializing your impressionistic memoir of one of those times and places. Brings back a lot of memories for me too. Summit County ca. 1984 beats the hell out of the 2005 version.
I share your problem of figuring out how to make a new place home. Having B helps a lot, but I still feel somewhat rootless in terms of place and community. And I'll be damned if it will be in a soulless suburb of Capitol City Metropolis.
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Or College Station, Texas? Sounds to me like someone's heart remains in Summit County, Colorado...
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Hmmm.... thanks for clarifying something for me, yadernye.
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But the reality is that Summit County is lost to me as well, at least, the place we both knew growing up. Change affects every place, some at a faster rate than others. For me Summit County is at least three distinct places, corresponding to the times I left and then returned. Well, now four, I guess, since I left for good in spring 2004. And thanks for serializing your impressionistic memoir of one of those times and places. Brings back a lot of memories for me too. Summit County ca. 1984 beats the hell out of the 2005 version.
I share your problem of figuring out how to make a new place home. Having B helps a lot, but I still feel somewhat rootless in terms of place and community. And I'll be damned if it will be in a soulless suburb of Capitol City Metropolis.
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(Stunned silence)
I'm going to have to ruminate about this...
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