A Sense of Place
“These days, our culture appears more and more defined by a sense of rootlessness. More than ever, people are packing up and moving away from the places they’ve grown up in, and staying away. They are also moving from place to place within their own lifetimes, like American nomads. Some people, like New York Times reporter Michael Powell, would observe that this sense of wanderlust has always been part of the American character and spirit. Still, it can be observed that American character not withstanding, we are much more mobile than our ancestors were.
My life has been the exact opposite of this trend. I have lived in the city of Fall River, Massachusetts, for my entire life. In fact, I still live in the same house that I was born in, which is also the house my father was born in and grew up in, and where his father grew up and died. When my parents grow older, my siblings and I will likely inherit this same house, four generations after my great-grandparents bought it in the early 1900s. The biggest move I’ve ever made was from the third floor of our house to the first floor. In contrast, I have some friends who have moved up to 20 times in their lives.” Christopher Yokel
