Word: rivers
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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Mimicking the attitude of most provincial Americans with regards to Europe, typical River-dwellers marginalize the Quad as "a nice place to visit--but I wouldn't want to live there." The Quad, like a stereotypical European town, has been pastoralized as a picturesque locale lacking the modern conveniences of urban (Square) life--i.e., 24 hour drug store, cash machine, parking garage. In actuality, the absence of these so-called amenities promotes a more relaxed lifestyle. In Europe, as in the Quad, a sense of community flourishes at a safe distance from standard consumer hubbub. Out here on the margins...
...aforementioned sense of community, doubted among outsiders, is a very real and powerful kinship arising from shared experience. Whereas the River Houses lack continuity, the Quad is a united federation like the European Union. On one hand we are composed of autonomous nations--Great Britain, France, Spain--and distinct and independent Houses--Currier, Cabot, Pforzhemier. On the other hand, we are linked by the documents we carry in order to travel: the common Euro passport and, in our case, the indispensable Shuttle schedule. We also, therefore, tend to identify ourselves in this supranational context; one often says "I live...
Those who live along the River, like the vast majority of under-educated North Americans, are generally ignorant of the geography of other lands. As a result of this apathetic attitude, they are unable to navigate north of Garden Street. (Some especially foolish River people will go so far as to declare their pride in never having been to the Quad, or brag about their intentional avoidance of the place.) Like tourists befuddled by directions in a foreign lingo, most River residents who are willing to venture abroad are unable to hold their own in a discussion involving geographical terms...
...Anybody who has gone through what Hillary Clinton has in the past few years can handle anything. Senator Clinton sounds exciting!" FRANCES L. BODE Rocky River, Ohio...
...West Side Highway is the road that runs along the Hudson River--or, really, stumbles along the Hudson River--on the western edge of Manhattan. By chance, it once gave me a strong intimation of mortality. In 1973 portions of the highway collapsed, triggering years of arguments about replacing it with a gargantuan project called Westway and then more years of constant construction whose purpose has never been apparent. Sitting in a traffic jam maybe 15 years after the original collapse, I was suddenly hit with the realization that I was not going to live to see the West Side...