Bourgeois

I like what Jeff Jarvis has to say about suburbia.  Well, I don't like all of it, but I find that it stirs up a lot of thoughts in me.  I may write some of them here, although not right now.  A lot of folks have recently been encouraging me to move to a big city -- to chase career and social opportunities into a bigger pond.  I won't do it.  I love this community.  I love the walking paths and having a garden and being so near the water; I love how deep my roots are, and how interconnected people are, how there's a cook at my favorite breakfast joint who knows what I want for breakfast when I walk in the door.  I like knowing elementary school kids and high school kids and becoming friends with my own high school teachers and running into people who went to school with my aunts and uncles.  I like seeing the stars and the moon and knowing a place where there are wild grapes and a great sledding hill and the best dark field to watch fireflies in June.  I like that there's hardly ever any traffic, that I feel safe walking anywhere at night, that I don't need to lock the doors of my car.  The fabric of my life, even now with two major pieces missing -- a professional identity and a sweetie pie -- is so rich and supportive because I have committed deeply to this place.  I know my neighborhood and my city and my state and the people who live and work here and I keep exploring it all with interest and delight. 

I also liked reading what David Foster Wallace has to say about irony (link via Legal Underground).  I heard him on Fresh Air years ago saying something similar.  I think about that a lot.  I guess when I think about it I feel a little bit silly and exposed, because my own writing, and indeed my own life, lacks the irony and cynicism that pervades my generation.  I don't do wry detachment or cynicism very well.  I feel acutely unsophisticated and naiive, and vulnerable and a little bit ashamed of my earnestness.  Maybe that'll be the new black -- seeing the world with wonder and hope.   

Hmmm.  I didn't notice it when I set out to write this, but I suppose these two blurbs are related? 

Comments

There is nothing sophisticated about cynicism for the sake of cynisim. From your posts, it is clear that you can look at things critically and objectively. That is far more important than being cynical. As for looking at the world with a sense of awe and wonder. It an intriguing place. Cynics, myself included, need to remember to stop and look at the majesty of the world from time to time.

[sarni]

Cynicism is a form of apathy, and a way to disconnect from life - not something to be proud of. You're better off being happy, and making other people happy.

The problem with suburbia is that it can become a prison for some - many 'urbanites' treat it with disdain because they have bad memories of growing up stifled. That's not to say everyone's experience has to be like that, however.