July 21, 2004
-
REMINISCING - Continued
As I grew up in South Florida, you can imagine the changes I've seen. When I was a kid in the 40's, my town had about 4000 people in it. There were about 12000 people in the county (Broward). I taught at a HS in the 60's (in the same area) with 4800 kids in it! That school system is now the tenth largest in the country. Here in my part of Maine, we have a neat way of stopping development - using the Nature Conservancy as a model- we buy up the land and put it in trust; pass very restrictive development laws and refuse to build roads into wilderness areas.
A drive down the logging roads of Northern Maine is very interesting. There is a chain across the road every so often with a warden who will ask you to fill out a form explaining what you are going to do: Picnic - check there, fish - check there, take photos - check there, camp- check there and see restrictions. It is the most regulated wilderness I've ever heard of. And if you hear a timber truck coming, you'd better get off the road in a hurry!
Another curious fact of modern America is its continuing urbanization. Over many parts of the country small towns are drying up as more people move closer to the urban areas. While New York may have fewer people in the city itself- its outlying suburbs are much larger.
California is the outstanding horrible example of urban sprawl. Despite the messages its fragile environment keeps sending (wildfires, mud slides, earthquakes, smog, etc) people keep coming to the big cities, fortunately leaving much of the state pretty empty and pretty nice. Florida, on the other hand, is running out of room.
Comments (6)
Another interesting post. Also, thanks for the advise on finding a place to retire. We never thought about renting a place first. That is a great idea and one that I will remember! Emily
Northern Cali is amazing! Silicon Valley is, of course, the poster child for the word, "Megalopolis" I remember as a child flying out of SFO and wondering where everything went! The ground would be so dark! You can drive up HWY 101 from about where I am (South San Jose) and drive north for well over an hour and it's like one giant city. There are no breaks - you can't even tell where one city ends and the next begins. Of course, that's just going north - the east bay here is crazy! Lots of people migrated to the east part of the bay during the boom because housing was a little cheaper. Now, driving anywhere on the east bay is CRAZY - any day of the week! Going to Berkely or Oakland sucks royally.
My bf owns a house somewhere in Florida (I forget where...) Maybe he was thinking that if he wanted to be certain to have that retirement home that he better not wait : )
Incidentally, one of my favorite authors lives in Florida - Piers Anthony (see him at http://www.hipiers.com) He lives on a large tree farm of some sort, and is trying to buy the land around his property so that it cannot be developed. I like his thinking : )
P.A.Jacobs isn't one of my favorites, but he is entertaining - especially if you like puns. Actually his more serious (?) efforts are worth reading. His Xanth stories only thinly disguise the mess Florida really is. I live just north of Tall Hassle.
If you're a SF-F reader, I think Cherryh, Moon, and Bradley (just died, alas) are among the top American writers of any kind of fiction.
Come to think of it, M Z Bradley didn't "just die" unless you are my age and "telling time by pictures on the wall"
I actually never got into the Xanth books much. I think I read the first 3 and lost interest. The Incarnations series were my favorites (I started reading them when I was 10) and read each new one as they came out. He had a couple other series' that I enjoyed, as well as a few stand alone books. I don't read fiction too much anymore, but back in the day I really enjoyed him (up until I was 19 or so) I still check up on him via his website. His way of thinking is what draws me to him - if I could find a younger version of him I would be set : ) (a creative, health conscious agnostic vegetarian? Where can I get one? : P
My son has read all the Incarnations books as well - we joke about them a lot : )
You could definitely see your skills within the paintings you write. The arena hopes for more passionate writers like you who are not afraid to say how they believe. At all times follow your heart.