The summer before first grade, my family moved us from North Carolina to a small town called Locust Grove – located in central Virginia. This was a place that I had been trying to leave since the moment we got there. Our house is located in a gated community that was originally meant be settlement of vacation homes for retirees but that later changed. My home town was a paradise for conservative southerners. My house is located on the corner of Battlefield and Confederate and right outside of our community are multiple battlefields from the Civil War. I was surrounded by many farms and many, many Confederate flags. My family never fit in and we never felt like we belonged there. As many negatives as I have about my hometown, I can definitely appreciate the beauty I was surrounded by for so many years. I lived close to many hiking spots, lakes, beaches, and mountains that were breathtaking. My hometown has definitely dealt with things similar to what Williams was going into. When Williams spoke up about how residents need to stand up for the wilderness surrounding us so it isn’t “destroyed under the banner of progress, expediency, or ignorance” it reminded me of something that happened at home. Members of our planning commission approved a re-zoning application and they wanted to replace an agricultural zone with a high-density residential area. 90% of local residents requested for denial when they voted on this but the application was passed. It was extremely frustrating but my community came together to try and stop what Williams was saying we need to stand up for.
(This is a photo I took of the lake that is in my housing development)
Thankfully, I was the first one in my family to get out of Virginia. Once I graduated high school in 2017, I moved out to California for college and attended school in Bel Air for a year. I left the college (too expensive and snobby) but I decided to stay in Los Angeles and I got an apartment with my boyfriend and two other roommates in Reseda. I had been wanting to move to California for forever because my aunt lives out here and my family would visit her every year. As much as I love California, I hate Los Angeles. It’s very dirty, overpopulated, and it’s just too much city for me. As much as I hate the countryside like my hometown, I also hate cities. My adventures with moving aren’t over yet; I just have to figure out where to move next.
(This is a photo I took while crossing the street to the bus stop by my apartment)
According to Barbara Kingsolver, people need wildness in their lives and I agree 100%. Kingsolver says that “people need wild places. Whether or not we think we do, we do. We need to be able to taste grace and know once again that we desire it”. I don’t think people realize how often we need a wild place and how it can bring one back to reality, “wildness puts us in our place. It reminds us that our plans are small and somewhat absurd” (Kingsolver). Wildness really does put us in our place, it makes all of your problems and everything going on completely insignificant when you’re in this space. I absolutely think that someone living in the city can experience this. I’m currently living in a huge city but there are plenty of hidden gems where one can be with just the planet.
Works Cited:
Kingsolver, Barbara. “Knowing Our Place .” PBS, Public Broadcasting Service, www.pbs.org/now/printable/transcript_smallwonder_print.html.
Williams, Terry Tempest. Red: Passion and Patience in the Desert. Pantheon Books, 2002.
Hi Elizabeth,
Very interesting post. I couldn’t imagine living in a place that takes pride in its negative and racist past through flags and glorified monuments, I feel sorry that you were exposed to that but luckily it seems you were much more evolved than the state you were living in. Personally, as someone from New England, I don’t know what the difference between North Carolina and Virginia is but it seems that you didn’t enjoy Virginia as much. It seems that within your own place of Virginia you were able to venture out and find the wildlife and nature you needed to allow for positive memories which I think is very important when connecting to your place. The displacement that you experienced is much like the one Kingsolver speaks of in her text. What do you think is the reasoning for your displacement, was it simple leaving North Carolina which you had grown attached to or a compilation of something else?
– Mirko Lopes
I would say that North Carolina was not very different from Virginia. I don’t think my reason for displacement was from leaving North Carolina. I lived there for about the first 5 years of my life so it didn’t have a huge impact on me. I think I had grown attached to California actually. My aunt lives in California and my family would fly out and visit her every summer since I was in second grade. Whenever people would ask me what my future plans were, I would say I’m going to move to California right after high school and that is just what I did. 🙂
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