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wcerto
Ahonui
USA
5052 Posts |
 Posted - 02/14/2008 : 05:39:59 AM
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Paul and I just got back from W. Va. to bury my father.
He was buried way up in a holler at the family cemetary. I expected many changes in the small town atmosphere, and there are. There are Wal-Marts, shopping malls, all the chain restaurants and fast food places, cell phone towers, trash laying by side the road. But not everything is bad. I wanted to share with you guys some headlines from the front page of the local newspaper, the Wayne County News. The newspaper is 14 pages long. They even print on top of the front page, the name of a person who newly subscribed to the newspaper.
One headline said: "Wayne Purchases Snow Plow".
Another said: "Council Names Streets"
At first glance I thought to myself, what lame headlines to put in a newspaper. Then it dawned on me, that it is pretty darn swell to live somewhere where there are not several murders, car-jackings,, etc., detailed in the newspaper. It is pretty darn swell when it is a big news thing to get a new snow ployw for the town, or when there has been new construction and a street needs to be named. Pretty darn swell, indeed.
Do you guys like big towns or little towns? City or rural?
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Me ke aloha
Malama pono,
Wanda |
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guitarded
Ha`aha`a
USA
1799 Posts |
Posted - 02/14/2008 : 06:09:13 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by wcerto
One headline said: "Wayne Purchases Snow Plow".
It is pretty darn swell when it is a big news thing to get a new snow ployw for the town
Wanda, mahalo for clarifying that Wayne is the name of a town and not some poor shmuck named Wayne who folks could now go and ask to borrow his snow plow. 
Sympathies on the loss of your Dad. |
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bbenzel
Lokahi
USA
130 Posts |
Posted - 02/14/2008 : 06:50:07 AM
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My favorite has always been "Man Helps Dog Bite Victim"
I grew up in a small town where everyone knew everyone. The result of that is that behavior had to always be cautious -- you really didn't want to get drunk and behave badly at the diner because you wouldn't be able to look anyone in the eye ever again.
I really look back on that as a very repressive environment.
I prefer the anonymity of life in a large metropolitan area where I can choose to interact with people I'm comfortable with and feel free to screw up and misbehave from time to time.
As for the news out here, I don't pay much attention to headlines -- I've read 'em all before -- only the names and exact times and places change -- the news is always the same. |
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ypochris
Lokahi
USA
398 Posts |
Posted - 02/14/2008 : 10:15:42 AM
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I met more people, made more friends, and had more social interactions (and was far less lonely) living for two years in Waimanu valley, 5 hours walk from the nearest road, than living two years here in Lansing, MI., population 365,000.
Chris
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Edited by - ypochris on 02/14/2008 10:16:11 AM |
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Karl Monetti
`Olu`olu
USA
756 Posts |
Posted - 02/14/2008 : 12:14:42 PM
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I'm with you on this, Bill;
I prefer the anonymity of life in a large metropolitan area where I can choose to interact with people I'm comfortable with and feel free to screw up and misbehave from time to time.
As for the news out here, I don't pay much attention to headlines -- I've read 'em all before -- only the names and exact times and places change -- the news is always the same.
But I also like a small town because if you want to, you can really help effect change. In Fairbanks i am on several committees devoted to becoming an environmentally sustainable community. Because of 36 years of meeting people, i know a lot of folks in positions that make decisions, and I can therefore help direct their actions and by extension the future of our community, and, hopefully, the world. We plan to become a beacon for the world; if we can make fairbanks, Alaska, environmentally sustainable (heading for zero carbon future, folks) then no place in the world would have an excuse not to do the same.
As far as a place to live; about a mile from my nearest neighbor suits me just fine:} I only know he exists when he puts his front end loader in reverse! But, I'll not tell the rest of the neighbors he does that, or he'd never be seen in public again. |
Karl
Frozen North |
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noeau
Ha`aha`a
USA
1105 Posts |
Posted - 02/14/2008 : 1:45:41 PM
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| Just returned fro the smallest town in Hawai"i, IMOP with 8000 pop. I would love to stay on that beach for a long time. The move from Honolulu to Bainbridge Island is from a big city 1 mil. to a small town 20 K. The big news on the crime report is about returning lost wallets to the police station. I will say that I play more music here than in Hawai'i. Oh Karl when I saw your last name at camp I windered why it was familiar. Now I know why. You a tp'er too. |
No'eau, eia au he mea pa'ani wale nō. |
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ypochris
Lokahi
USA
398 Posts |
Posted - 02/14/2008 : 2:12:42 PM
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Waipi'o has a resident population of 65, and sometimes it seems way too crowded- not sure if that is the small town neighbors or the half million tourists that come through every year. Anyway sometimes we have to escape from it all to Waimanu and points beyond.
When my neighbors built a house I could see from mine it really disturbed me- fortunately they don't actually live there. Now I live where I could hit half a dozen houses with a rock and I don't know any of my neighbors' names. In Waipi'o you could get drunk and dance naked at a party and everyone would laugh- here if you don't shovel the sidewalks right after it snows or mow your grass for a couple weeks a neighbor is going to call code compliance and you will get a big fine. Talk about being judged and your behavior controlled! The big crime in the police blotter is public urination. Don't try taking a piss in the woods around here! In Waipi'o I do any kine ting I like, no worries, no baddah, everybody one frien.
I guess I know which side of this debate I stand on. I do like the culture and arts here, and it is only three or four hours to the great museums of Chicago. But that is all a city has to offer, besides money making opportunities (which are counterbalanced by the cost of living!). Still, I would take a big city over a big town, which has all the disadvantages and none of the advantages.
Chris
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NANI
Lokahi
USA
292 Posts |
Posted - 02/15/2008 : 09:21:43 AM
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Guess I fall on the small town side of the fence. We had small town life and the people came to us not us to the people. It is very hard to adjust to that. I liked it when everyone knew your name your fathers name infact probibly your great grandfaters name for that matter and were more than happy to tell you stories about the trouble they got into when they were small. Made them real to me. Now I do not even know the names of 5 people on my street. For the first time none of them are reletives seems kind of sad.
Guess that is why the thought of moving away is getting easier all the time. I am so happy here in Hawaii life is back to the slow pace I remember. It Amazes me how friends quickly feel like family and when you haven't seen them for a while they stop what they are doing and just sit and talk story no problems just want to get caught up.
I was given the gift of a new friend before this trip through T Patch. When she was on the Big Island we went out to dinner and then talked talked talked. We are worlds apart in cultures and experences but found many of our kid memories the same. Not sure this would ever happen in a big city. Or maybe I would just not let it happen out of my own fears.
I do not like the Closed in feeling of the BIG CITY never feel comfortable with all the people around me 24/7.
Funny how we each see the same thing so different isn't it. |
"A hui hou kakou, malama pono".
Nancy |
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KäneKïHö`alu
Akahai
64 Posts |
Posted - 02/18/2008 : 9:34:26 PM
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| I have lived in Kaunakakai, live in Honolulu, and go to college on the mainland in L.A. I can't stand L.A., but as for Kaunakakai and Honolulu, there are pros and cons for each so I can't say I like a certain one over the other. If I had my way I'd live 6 months of the year in one place and 6 in the other. |
E mālama pono a e hoʻomaha ma ka maluhia o ke Akua,
Matt |
Edited by - KäneKïHö`alu on 02/18/2008 9:35:06 PM |
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