Letters to the Editor
-
in praise of college towns
Much of what has been written about the conservative/homogenous midwest is true. I grew up in Wichita and got the hell out of there before I was 20. It can be stifling, even if you look the part. I swore I would never go back to the Godforsaken hellhole of the midwest.
I now live in Lawrence, and LOVE it. The difference is that it is a college town-true ethnic and cultural diversity, and actually much, much more politically liberal than O.C.or S.D. (the one blue dot in the sea of red that was the last election), friendly neighbors, and very little of the conspicuous consumption that is such a big part of life in SoCal. In terms of costs-housing is more expensive here than in a "true" small town, it costs real money to heat/cool your house. Late summer and winter suck and you actually need a winter wardrobe (and a summer wardrobe, and a transitional wardrobe for when the calendar says it is fall/spring/summer/winter but the thermometer says something else entirely.