Thursday, May 13, 2010

contemplating my next move

Patrick and his dad are fishing back in the woods, and I’m sitting at the dead-end of River Bend Road in Bristol. There’s a house here that has an unsecured wireless network. And I didn’t connect! Just don’t feel like it. How’s that for weird?

I fancy myself a pretty adaptable person. When I moved to New Mexico at age 18, I was miserable for a few years until I found the right niche and found my footing in the community, but I made it. Now it may be time for me to leave Santa Fe, and I wonder if I will adapt to wherever I go next.

Patrick has not outright asked me to move to Knoxville, but when I offered to do so, he didn’t object. It certainly is different from Santa Fe – and I may like it better, in a weird way. People here don’t seem as self-absorbed as they are in Santa Fe. People move slower but they do know how to move fast – they just choose not to. In Santa Fe, when people move slow, it’s because they have no idea how to function like a normal human being. City Different, indeed.

But I do love Santa Fe. I do love Madrid. I love the art and the landscape and the creative people and the through-and-through acceptance of just about everyone.

That would be my main fear moving out here. I don’t just lean to the left – I’m pretty much running in that direction. And obviously, people here are not that way. I have heard good things about Knoxville as a metropolitan area, as far as being hip and tolerant is concerned, but I’m not holding my breath. Could I live in the South? Could I handle it?

There is only one way to find out. That’s the bottom line here; there is only one way to find out and if I don’t find out I will always wonder.

1 comment:

  1. I can relate to your story. I'm from the East Coast, moved to Santa Fe to pursue my art dream nearly 4 years ago. I've had my fare share of frustration too, you so hit it on the nail, when you said they have no idea how to function like a normal human being. I've thought about Ashville, Austin and Portland as possible destination. Try Knoxville for a while, who says you have to spend years there?

    PS-I worked at the Reporter in 2006/07 as a graphic designer there.

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