Hello from Nebraska

[jjbaugher]

Greetings from the great american desert!  Or at least that's what they called it 130 years ago when it was settled. 

 

Before Steph, I only know of one anarchist that I've talked to in the past.  And that person didn't give any credence to my concern about evil people/bullies, so I wrote it off as another crazy idea.  I discovered FDR from the "Un-truth about Donald Trump."  

 

 

[AccuTron]

Greetings back to The Very Large And Intimidating American Desert.  

 

I grew up and lived in the SE USA, and my sense of scale...and how big the sky is...was from there.  The first time I drove (solo, '71 VW Sqbk) across the plains, I was more than stunned.  I had no idea what distance really was.  "Like Dude, this is a...planet!"  

 

(Shortly afterwards, I saw a nineteenth century North American map using the words Great American Desert.  I totally get it.)

 

Back East, what would be an afternoon drive, if out West, would be so short that they wouldn't bother driving, they'd just walk.  (Canned laughter.)

 

I recall going West on the Interstate, so much openness, the same, sort of, over and over again, then passing over an erosion feature, which I thought was a moderate ditch.  I noticed a white smudge on the side and realized it was a junked automobile.  Whoa! -- recalibrate eyeballs!

 

I strongly felt that to grow up in such a place would have to affect how a person thought or felt or perceived.  I didn't know how, but it seemed almost required.

 

Did you grow up in Nebraska?  Have you visited other types of areas, and noticed if you felt or thought differently?

[jjbaugher]

My folks moved to Illinois when I was about 7, then I moved back here when I was ~30.  Been to East coast(VA-Mass), West Coast (Southern Cali), Arkansas.  Also have been to some parts of Asia.   Every area has unique things that people just living there have no idea how different it is.

 

For example, Arkansas, I had to work outdoors in the summer.  when it's foggy at 80 degrees.  Then here people complain about humidity when it goes over 30% in the summer time.    A girl described her feelings coming back here from Southern California (pre-drought) and she was soo happy to see something green.  Compared to Illinois, it's always brownish here, but compared to Riverside Cali, where it's more dirt then plants it's green here.

[AccuTron]

I chuckle at the reference to high humidity...because I'm not in it!

When young, in the nineteen-sixties, and part of family trips out of the country, living in S. Florida, I recall coming off that last leg of returning airline travel, the aircraft door opens to Miami atmosphere, and it felt like a damp towel thrown on my face.  On one hand, it felt familiar and good to be home.  On the other hand, wherever we just came from had an atmosphere a heck of a lot easier to tolerate. 

 

For historical perspective, most of the countries we visited either had a bombing someplace while we were there, or a revolution or major earthquake right after we left.  And aircraft hijackings were first coming into fashion.