Urban/Rural Divide

Yesterday, my fellow adventurers in the land of Unbloggable EventsTM and I took a long hike in a nature preserve just outside the city limits. I wasn’t expecting much, but we ended up seeing at least 20 zebras, 5 giraffes, 4 ostriches and several guinea fowl. I had some pictures taken near the giraffes and upon further examination of the photos I realized that one can see the skyline of the city behind the hill. Moreover, I recently finished The House of Mirth, which follows Lily Bryant’s social problems in the gossipy minefield of Old New York. Much of the action involves going between lavish country mansions and cramped city apartments. When her financial situation takes an unfortunate turn, she is forced to live in a small boarding house in the city while her friends discuss their itineraries in the Hamptons and Newport for la saison. I have also been enjoying The City in Literature, a study of the role of the city in French, American and English fiction since the Enlightenment. Some authors saw the city as a paradis where dreams can come true while others saw in it the destruction of agrarian ties and family bonds. On a more personal note, this move to a West African village represents a step in the opposite direction of urbanization from my previous abodes. I grew up in a town of 50,000 people; went to college in a town of 80,000; studied abroad in a town of 3 million; lived in a town of 350,000; and will now teach in a village of less than 5,000. Should be interesting…