May 31, 2024
as i was ranting to my friend while clambering down iron-red rocks on a hike overlooking suburban denver trying not to fall and slip due to the lack of tread on my running shoes: i have been both blessed and cursed with times of high variance compared to the average american. namely, i have had the opportunity to see and live in many cities. in time order over the past five years: austin, davenport, houston, dallas, washington dc, baltimore, new york city, iowa city, chicago, denver, seattle, san francisco, paris, barcelona, madrid, mexico city, amsterdam, phoenix, minneapolis, asheville, nashville, new orleans, madison, milwaukee, kansas city, santa fe, ogden, tampa, and others which i am not remembering (i just remembered dubuque and maquoketa, both of which i adore). this is a point of consternation as a semi-nomadic lifestyle makes the kinds of deep bonds which i crave hard to build; simultaneously, in figuring out where i would like to be, this has made me consider what makes a place good to live in frequently.
nature. as the introduction suggests, i love the outdoors. my current trip has seen me walk and run ten to twenty miles per day as the everyday experience of being among the mountains in colorado is irresistible to me; it is not just the still white-capped mountains jutting over the eastern edge of the city looking down on the long and vast plains which stretch all the way to my old home but also the rich variation involved in it. as i turn the corner onto my running path evergreen pine, mountain laurel, and blue columbine waft their way over to me; i spot a white-winged scavenging bird, hummingbirds, robins, and my enemy (the red-winged blackbirds which loved to divebomb me when i lived along the mississippi river). even in geology, on hikes one can see shale, dappled gneiss, quartz intrusions, jasper, and granite. there is such a complexity to being in this area which makes every view an intricately-detailed painting.
density. though this invites the image of new york city and the bustling downtowns of old american metropolises, this density does not necessarily need to be of that type. while nyc does offer variation in people and establishment as denver does in natural treasures, at the end of the day, my qualm is that this widely-acclaimed variety provides just more places to consume. density to me does not mean a thickly-woven carpet of consumerism – often i am happy with one or two good quality options close by for a city (i intensely miss redband coffee in davenport as well as the cash-only tommy’s café). speaking of that city it also had a density in its small urban core where the good spots to go to were all in walking distance (including places for socialization – i miss rozz-tox). this is all that words mean to me and thus there are more options than just new york.
people. i am an obligate extrovert much to my own annoyance; this causes me a lot of angst in an increasingly-isolated world. though truly no one is alien to me and that i love talking to those of all ages, it is much easier to connect with those in your age range. my largest frustration with davenport was simply the large bite taken out of my bracket in the age pyramid – this was one of the reasons i moved on for greener pastures.
weather. as much as we like to act that we have moved beyond our animal roots, it is a fact of life that we are still subject to weather; those in more northern areas need to take great pains not to contract seasonal affective disorder or that the cold itself not stop people from leaving the house (see: the seattle freeze). on the flipside, one of the many issues with houston is that it is unlivable. while i was away for memorial day weekend, the airport humidity-adjusted temperature hit one hundred and fifteen for the first time this year. extreme weather on the other end prevents people from leaving the house as well, especially when my main hobbies are hiking, running, and bouldering. the heat certainly makes people angrier as well! have you dealt with houston drivers?
transportation. having grown up in dallas and spending a stint in houston, it is easy to say that i hate driving; this is not necessarily the case. i just despise driving in these (and similar) cities. driving around denver, cross-country, and even my eighty-mile per day commute in iowa were not that bad (aside from the wasted time). rather, the issue is the experience of driving in these areas, being forced into arteries calcified with cars building to a sudden arrest – this is what i despise. public transit is good because i am able to avoid these messes, but it is not a necessity for me (though i like it for cost and time-saving reasons). where i was in denver and dc were not well-services by public transit but i am not allergic to walking to augment this; if i can walk in a place it is often better than any other option!