Very soon I'll be traveling to my hometown. I haven't been back in more than six years. I'll see my family, and one or two old friends who still live within a few hours' drive, and I'll take some time to visit the treasured places where I had my life-shaping early adventures, and touch the ground, and reconnect with my long-ago self.
Where I'm from, there are no snow days, no autumn bonfires lost to wind and showers. The sun rises over land and sets over water, and palm trees line the boulevards. Where I'm from, the interstate highways are never called "I-this" or "I-that," but always "the 405" or "the 5." When locals share where they're from they never mention counties or high schools, only cities and communities. There is no unifying regional cuisine, no equivalent to the Maryland crab or Old Bay seasoning, although restaurants everywhere else try to evoke the place with avocado and sprouts.
Where I'm from is the backdrop for movies and television: My high school and college appear as their generic equivalents in countless films and shows. The most famous local landmarks are known more for their appearances on the silver screen than for their history in the actual world.
Where I'm from, the locals can seem sunny but insincere. They can attend too much to appearances; they mock the unfashionable and unkempt. Their superficiality alienates many poetic young souls, and spawns subcultures at the margins: of yearning for independence, of depth.
Where I'm from shines through me every day without my conscious thought or intention. Whether I embody its folkways or epitomize resistance to them, the me that emerges is defined in large part by that faraway place.
Where I'm from is where I'm headed for a little while: the San Fernando Valley, and the City of Angels.
Where are you from?
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Where I'm from, there are no snow days, no autumn bonfires lost to wind and showers. The sun rises over land and sets over water, and palm trees line the boulevards. Where I'm from, the interstate highways are never called "I-this" or "I-that," but always "the 405" or "the 5." When locals share where they're from they never mention counties or high schools, only cities and communities. There is no unifying regional cuisine, no equivalent to the Maryland crab or Old Bay seasoning, although restaurants everywhere else try to evoke the place with avocado and sprouts.
Where I'm from is the backdrop for movies and television: My high school and college appear as their generic equivalents in countless films and shows. The most famous local landmarks are known more for their appearances on the silver screen than for their history in the actual world.
Where I'm from, the locals can seem sunny but insincere. They can attend too much to appearances; they mock the unfashionable and unkempt. Their superficiality alienates many poetic young souls, and spawns subcultures at the margins: of yearning for independence, of depth.
Where I'm from shines through me every day without my conscious thought or intention. Whether I embody its folkways or epitomize resistance to them, the me that emerges is defined in large part by that faraway place.
Where I'm from is where I'm headed for a little while: the San Fernando Valley, and the City of Angels.
Where are you from?
--
Follow Co-Create UMBC on Twitter
Like Co-Create UMBC on Facebook
If you're at UMBC, join the Co-Create UMBC MyUMBC group
Send me an email
