I miss the coal country. I was raised there. I liked the multi-national multi-cultural city where I lived in Florida. I miss the mountains of Virginia. I still want to live in Montana. I guess I’m from where I lived and live where I’m going. Oh, Mrs, M is making me stay in Michigan.
East Mi probably has the most run down cities and abandoned factories. West MI is mixed with urban and forested areas. The North is really nice with forests, and then the Upper Peninsula with its sparse population is really nice. There are beaches too.
We have relatives in Albuquerque who attest to the general accuracy of Breaking Bad’s portrayal of ABQ. I find the cultural differences between other regions of the US to be significant enough to affect how I feel about the idea of living there, never mind the climatological differences and other incidentals.
Interesting thoughts you raise. I have a brother one year older than I, and he’s a different person from me, despite our growing up years being very similar. Interesting how personalities diverge over time.
Regarding Breaking Bad, it’s partly caricature and partly entirely true about ABQ.
I enjoyed the film. I can see the ABQ setting in the film and show. I haven’t seen enough of the city to comment on culture or traditions. I remember smoking my tobacco pipe outside of the Target there—picking up driving supplies—and I thought that I must look a little sketchy, ready for a parking lot transaction with Heisenberg.
I joined the navy at the ripe old age of 18 and a month out of high school. A few hours later I found myself getting off a bus in the middle of the country and thrown into a building with a large group of me representing every nook and cranny of the US one could ever imagine. I felt like Alice when she landed in Wonderland. I was surrounded by people of every color imaginable, speaking in all kinds of accents – some unintelligible to me. In all of this diversity I was alone and scared to death.
A common phrase in boot camp was “Where you from?” We didn’t say that so much because we were really interested, but that we were looking for common roots so we could feel comfortable with someone familiar. Over time that changed. Instead of the Navy being a four year gig to avoid being drafted and sent off to war, it turned out to be a 20 year career that had me all over the world – literally.
I sailed on ships and flew in huge troop planes that dropped in all kinds of savory and some not so savory places. In my travels I met men, women and children of all ages and cultures and beliefs. This time, though, I wasn’t a scared kid from New Hampshire, but a grown man from “everywhere”. I asked people where they were from still, but not because I was far from home and lonely. Instead, I really did want to know where they were from, what they did, how did they live and what did they believe. Instead of funny accents they spoke different languages and I had to learn some rudiments to communicate. This really was an adventure.
So what did I learn and what am I getting at? I learned that no matter where I went in the world, at the very heart of it, we are all essentially the same with similar hopes and dreams wants and needs. We were all once that scared kid from “back home” seeking new things and adventures in that big diverse ball we call the world.
That transition is crucial to understanding the world. Kids turn to to tribalism (based on whatever grouping) because they are insecure and afraid, which is why they act so tough. Bravado is the first sign of insecurity. I envy you your travels. I have travelled, but in a much more conventional sense and largely in European countries. I would love to visit other continents. Diving into the unknown is living deeply.
And it gets even more complicated for Brits, we’ve been absorbing American culture at a steady rate for decades and decades. School Proms for example, are now a thing here, which I honestly find weird. We don’t “graduate” from high school at 16! Everyone has to stay in education until the age of 18 but the kids still insist on the big do, the limousines ( whaaat!) and all that malarkey, only to return to do their A levels in the autumn! And in my day when dinosaurs roamed the earth, we probably had a disco or something at the end of A levels but definitely no limos
It is sad to see the cultural dribble spreading throughout Europe. Globalization reigns supreme. I have to admit that I’m something of an Anglophile when it comes to crime TV series–Broadchurch and so on. If the BBC adopts the implausible plots and style-without-substance television programming of the US, I’m out.
The Untimely Typewriter:Daily Writings Against the Tides of Distraction 
I miss the coal country. I was raised there. I liked the multi-national multi-cultural city where I lived in Florida. I miss the mountains of Virginia. I still want to live in Montana. I guess I’m from where I lived and live where I’m going. Oh, Mrs, M is making me stay in Michigan.
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My ideas of Michigan are limited. I picture two worlds: cities with ongoing or abandoned manufacturing or big forests with wildlife and hunting.
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East Mi probably has the most run down cities and abandoned factories. West MI is mixed with urban and forested areas. The North is really nice with forests, and then the Upper Peninsula with its sparse population is really nice. There are beaches too.
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We have relatives in Albuquerque who attest to the general accuracy of Breaking Bad’s portrayal of ABQ. I find the cultural differences between other regions of the US to be significant enough to affect how I feel about the idea of living there, never mind the climatological differences and other incidentals.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Interesting thoughts you raise. I have a brother one year older than I, and he’s a different person from me, despite our growing up years being very similar. Interesting how personalities diverge over time.
Regarding Breaking Bad, it’s partly caricature and partly entirely true about ABQ.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I enjoyed the film. I can see the ABQ setting in the film and show. I haven’t seen enough of the city to comment on culture or traditions. I remember smoking my tobacco pipe outside of the Target there—picking up driving supplies—and I thought that I must look a little sketchy, ready for a parking lot transaction with Heisenberg.
LikeLike
Place and identity… interesting…
I joined the navy at the ripe old age of 18 and a month out of high school. A few hours later I found myself getting off a bus in the middle of the country and thrown into a building with a large group of me representing every nook and cranny of the US one could ever imagine. I felt like Alice when she landed in Wonderland. I was surrounded by people of every color imaginable, speaking in all kinds of accents – some unintelligible to me. In all of this diversity I was alone and scared to death.
A common phrase in boot camp was “Where you from?” We didn’t say that so much because we were really interested, but that we were looking for common roots so we could feel comfortable with someone familiar. Over time that changed. Instead of the Navy being a four year gig to avoid being drafted and sent off to war, it turned out to be a 20 year career that had me all over the world – literally.
I sailed on ships and flew in huge troop planes that dropped in all kinds of savory and some not so savory places. In my travels I met men, women and children of all ages and cultures and beliefs. This time, though, I wasn’t a scared kid from New Hampshire, but a grown man from “everywhere”. I asked people where they were from still, but not because I was far from home and lonely. Instead, I really did want to know where they were from, what they did, how did they live and what did they believe. Instead of funny accents they spoke different languages and I had to learn some rudiments to communicate. This really was an adventure.
So what did I learn and what am I getting at? I learned that no matter where I went in the world, at the very heart of it, we are all essentially the same with similar hopes and dreams wants and needs. We were all once that scared kid from “back home” seeking new things and adventures in that big diverse ball we call the world.
LikeLiked by 1 person
That transition is crucial to understanding the world. Kids turn to to tribalism (based on whatever grouping) because they are insecure and afraid, which is why they act so tough. Bravado is the first sign of insecurity. I envy you your travels. I have travelled, but in a much more conventional sense and largely in European countries. I would love to visit other continents. Diving into the unknown is living deeply.
LikeLiked by 1 person
And it gets even more complicated for Brits, we’ve been absorbing American culture at a steady rate for decades and decades. School Proms for example, are now a thing here, which I honestly find weird. We don’t “graduate” from high school at 16! Everyone has to stay in education until the age of 18 but the kids still insist on the big do, the limousines ( whaaat!) and all that malarkey, only to return to do their A levels in the autumn! And in my day when dinosaurs roamed the earth, we probably had a disco or something at the end of A levels but definitely no limos
LikeLike
It is sad to see the cultural dribble spreading throughout Europe. Globalization reigns supreme. I have to admit that I’m something of an Anglophile when it comes to crime TV series–Broadchurch and so on. If the BBC adopts the implausible plots and style-without-substance television programming of the US, I’m out.
LikeLiked by 1 person