Changes

I had applied for a glass scholarship in Seattle, but I didn't get it. (It was a long shot). So I'm moving to Chicago. I love my co-op, the community of people here, our crazy house, and the city. I love 24 hour public transport (although in Hyde Park it's not as great) and Devon Ave, where you can find the best Indian food west (or east, depending on how you look at it) of India, street vendors and performers and crazy people (well, maybe not the crazy people) being withing walking distance of, well, everything, and...I just love Chicago. 2 months is not long enough for me. I'm not ready to leave this city. I plan to fly home to the harbor, sell my furniture, pack my shit and hop in my (new) car and drive back here. Road trip, baby! I hope I can still make it to Burning Man. It will all depend on whether or not I secure a job before I leave. I would like this nanny position here in Hyde Park because it has a very, very ideal schedule (and location) but if I don't get it, it's probably for the best, as 10 days really doesn't give me much time to tie up all my loose ends. We shall see how things turn out.

For now, I'm happy and content knowing that I am finally out of Gig Harbor, that I am moving on and forward with my life. I won't forget my family and friends, but I need to know that I can come to a city where I don't know a soul, and build a whole new life for myself. I've been bitching and bitching about stagnating and becoming mediocre, and if I stay in Gig Harbor that is exactly what will happen. What has been happening. I worked at the Sunset for almost 6 years. I grew up there. I have a community there. When I left that town to backpack Asia I envisioned myself never returning. People just laughed and shook their heads, knowing I'd be back. I wanted so bad to prove to them that I had what it took to get the hell out of that upper class white tourist trap. And what did I do? Return home, tired and broke, sleeping in the guest room at my parents house and started working at the Sunset again. I promised myself it was temporary, that I was just saving some money until something better came along. And...it did.

Once I won this fellowship, I knew that something was going to change. I didn't have the slightest idea how, but I knew that whatever I had previously planned (to work at the sunset and the funeral home to save money for traveling) was out the window. Something new was on the horizon, even if I couldn't quite make it out. My first night in Chicago I knew I never wanted to leave. There was something about the people, their openness to everything and everyone that was so addicting, so unlike the judgmental community I had grow up with. I had thought that my town was representative of America, and I had to leave the country to escape such close minded non-varying people. Not so. Chicago is the most diverse place I have ever been to in the United States. My town is representative of conservative, right wing, upper class, racially segregated communities. Kids from Gig Harbor can usually count on one hand how many black kids they went to school with. Sometimes Asian too, although there were always more of them than black. Someone I know posted this thing, "You know you're from GH if..." and it had things like "you can name at least 5 people who own a boat, or a waverunner, and a few that own both, and probably someone who owns a yacht, " and "Over half the people you know are married by 25," "If you ever had to make a choice between driving the Lexus or the BMW to school that day of the week," "You leave your house and car unlocked," "You study at Starbucks," and "You own Coach." Ooh, and another good one: "Being poor meant you shopped at the Bon instead of Nordstrom's."

All so very true, for most of the sad, sad little rich white kids of that little town. I was never one of them, even though at times I thought I wanted to be like them, I grew up and discovered how shallow and material these people are and how they don't want much out of life because mom and dad gave them everything they need. They will never be independent, self-sufficient, or as happy as I am. Most of them will never leave Gig Harbor. I only need my hands to count the number of people I know who have escaped. Who have moved on to bigger and better things. And now I'm one of them :)