I’ve decided to copy my wife's “dog-eared” feature. These posts will contain quotations from books, music, movies, and whatever else I feel like sharing.
The Need for Mountains
I climbed out of my father’s pickup at a train stop in Minidoka, Idaho, then I’m getting on a train bound for Chicago and I had never been east of the Rockies, for God’s sake. And when I got to Harvard, something wasn’t right. There was something gnawing at me. And it took me probably three or four weeks to figure out what it was—I couldn’t find the horizon.
Lou Dobbs, What I’ve Learned, Esquire Magazine, February 2010, page 94.
As someone from the west, I know exactly what he’s talking about. Those who were raised around mountains deeply feel their absence when there aren’t any around. At least I do. I’ve talked about this a great deal with many people when discussing some of the things about living in Chicago that are hard for me, and I don’t think anyone from the Midwest truly understands.
Note: Of course I imagine the same is true when easterners talk about how they miss living in a “real city” when they move out west.
Also note: Lou Dobbs is not one of my favorite people, but I liked the quotation so here it is.
it's weird. where i grew up was not out west, and we didn't have a horizon. but there were rivers, and on the other side of a river there were usually hills. even now, eight years after i left, i still often wonder where the hills are when i look out a window.
ReplyDeleteWhen I moved to Texas it was hard to be without the mountains--I was so used to being able to figure out directions and location based on the them.
ReplyDelete