You Really Can't Go Home

Going "home" is both comforting, and a little strange. I grew up in Bakersfield, CA. I was born, raised, educated, and managed to procure a career - all in the dusty, bottom end of the San Joaquin Valley. Then I moved. I sometimes envy my brother and my sister for having the ability and opportunity to have ventured out a little earlier in life. To leave before you are too rooted somewhere gives you the opportunity to decide where you want to belong.

My brother chose Nashville. It took him in with open arms. Now he has a circle of friends that grows regularly, and a special someone. His family tree seems to be setting down solid roots in the rich soil of Tennessee.

I think sometimes, that even as much as I love the pace of life in the mountain communities, I cannot resist the call of my home town. Even though I love the green of the trees, the cool running water, and the clear skies, my heart still misses the friends, the family, and even the dust of my valley birthplace.

What to do? Stay or go? I think that I will always feel a certain amount of kinship with the soil of Col. Baker's field. I still get defensive when I hear someone talk bad about my hometown. It still stings when some L.A. character denigrates Bakersfield for it's cows, cabbage, and crude oil. After all, if we didn't make it, who would? Orange County traded all of it's citrus for Magic Kingdoms and plastic people.

I feel a little sad when I hear that Bakersfield is pushing itself out to the I-5. I can envision acres of subdivisions as far as the eye can see (at least on a smoggy day). I'm afraid that Bakersfield may trade in its farmers and ranchers in for more L.A. focused consumer culture. So, its true. You really can't go home. Sometimes you can't even stay home. Blink your eyes and it will change all around you. I love seeing Bakersfield get itself a California Pizza Kitchen, and Elephant Bar. I'd love it if Bakersfield could get itself a Pottery Barn or Crate and Barrel. The problem seems to be that with those fun amenities, come catalysts of social decay.

A city loses it's character when it becomes a metropolitan area. Neighborhoods become defined by their Starbucks. Of late, the concerns of some Bakersfieldians is that their hometown will lose it's identity as an independent community, and simply become L.A. north. Though I despise the thought of it, I'm not confident that enough Bakersfield residents feel the same way. Sometimes old things pass away. Sometimes the "good old days" really were the good old days. What tomorrow, and the next 10 years bring is yet to be seen.

Still, sometimes I wish I could go home. But I think that might require a time machine.

For those of you who have left your hometowns, what has changed? Is it better or worse for the change? Share with the class, won't you.




p.s. I'm adding this picture just because I like it. It reminds me of Edward Hopper's paintings.