Rural town (田舎)

This weekend I had the pleasure of traveling through rural Wisconsin (woo hoo!) north past Milwaukee (I didn't know there was civilization beyond Milwaukee neither) to a town called Kewaunee, Wisconsin, population 2,200. (we passed through Manitowac County, Wisconsin, on our way, and it's very reminiscant of the image that the Netflix series "Making a Murderer" encapsulates. Granted, we didn't stop in town and didn't want to drive too fast for fear of being pulled over and falsely accused for some crime we didnt' commit, see series for reference) A totally isolated small town, surrounded by farm land, not a college to support its population, apart from everything else in the world it seemed like. Home of cheese curds, which are either delicious or vomit-inducing depending on who you ask, and "a historic downtown" area that consisted of a half of a block of stores and then just fades away.

I don't mean to make fun of or belittle Kewaunee, Wisconsin, or any other small rural cities in the world, they have a certain quaintness about them. For example, there's not that many people, which naturally garners more nature, more wildlife, and an awesome lighthouse that's not overcrowded with people like the Santa Monica Pier on a busy weekend. (granted, not every small town has a lighthouse, but most do have some sort of symbolic landmark that signifies the spirit of the city). And people actually know each other in small towns: my friend who lives there is known as "Mr. K" by all the townspeople and has a high reputation, gaining the respect of his peers through robust Pokemon training. So there's a sense of trust, family within the neighborhood as opposed to a sense of being squeezed in an elevator getting to work or packed like sardines into a train and fighting to get off at the proepr stop. There's no bustling trains interrupting your nightly rest, and one can actually see the stars pretty clearly without a smog-inducing metropolis nearby.

Some people love the rural experience, and I don't blame them, but I had enough after 1 day and a half of the countryside. It's like a lot of vacation spots: nice to visit once in awhile, cool to know people do lead that sort of lifestyle, but can't imagine being there every day of the rest of my life. Definitely, what I've learned from my experiences is that I'm a city dweller...I thrive in large communities, where access to resources (like grocery stores) is readily available, and there are social dodgeball leagues (shudders to think about living without a dodgeball league). Cities are also where professional, white-collar types work with offices in tall buildings and wearing business casual is the standard, not farmwear and work clothes, and I'm definitely of the former type (nerdy, works in an office, doesn't want to get hands dirty, really just bad with my hands, needs to use utilize my mind and not my hands to make a living). I also LOVE running in urban areas like urban parks with a backdrop of the skyline, and a river or some body of water cutting through the city that allows for running along the shore doesn't hurt neither. People, in general, our social animals.....we like to socialize, and I socialize pretty well with most people (my gf probably agrees!) so for now, until I commit some sort of social crime that ostracizes me from most people and I find everyone grotesque or vice versa, I'd like to live (and really, have to live in order to work the jobs that I do) in an urban area.

Fantasize on,

Rober tYan