Times they aren't a-changin'

This past week has been full of changes (I'm working again, and trying to move at the same time!). And, most of you don't need to be told, but change is BAD. Change requires that you do awful and uncomfortable things-- like learning, trying something different, or meeting someone new. Change makes you readjust and trust things will work out. Change is pretty much always crap. That is, most change is crap--unless you are lucky enough to move to Mt. Pleasant, Michigan.

Things in Mt. Pleasant remain divinely UNchanged... which is why I am thrilled to be working here and living here again. Mt. Pleasant is small and friendly, full of weirdo hole-in-the-wall things like diners and thrift shops--and, perhaps best of all, anywhere I go, I see someone I know.

Yes, I am aware that people who live in larger cities, like Troy, or Big Cities, like Dublin, see people they know as they go about town. But, living in Mt. Pleasant makes that a far more enjoyable activity. When an English Dept. colleague sees me in the supermarket and they say, "Hey, let's get together," I know I don't have to wait two years for an invitation. It's not something people say in passing here.

In Mt. Pleasant, people care about each other; in Mt. Pleasant, people are genuinely nice. This town is about as quintessentially American "Our Town" as you can find. Tonight, after I eat a hamburger at Jon's Country Burgers, I'll head down to the Bird for a pint and play pool in my poodle skirt with the varsity quarterback/Homecoming King/class valedictorian on my arm.

Hahahaha.