Comments on: changes and such http://michaeljfaris.com/blog/2009/09/changes-and-such/ rhetorics, compositions, technologies, literacies, sexualities Wed, 25 Jan 2012 19:05:46 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Michael http://michaeljfaris.com/blog/2009/09/changes-and-such/comment-page-1/#comment-24026 Michael Sat, 26 Sep 2009 14:27:58 +0000 http://michaeljfaris.com/blog/?p=1449#comment-24026 Thanks, Andrew. Those all exactly the reasons I chose not to live in Bellefonte when I moved here, even when I was desperate for an apartment and couldn't find one in State College. I think what I'm missing is something "romantic" about life, and perhaps I'm just pulled into the quaint beauty of Bellefonte. State College's romance wore off after about three hours of being in town... To counter Paul's wisdom, though, we might also say, "Why live in a small town that can't accept it's a small town and is trying way too hard to not be (in all the wrong ways), when you can actually live in a small town that's okay with being a small town?" But in the last analysis (haha), I probably won't live in Bellefonte anyway. The commute would kill me, esp. on those late nights of working. Thanks, Andrew. Those all exactly the reasons I chose not to live in Bellefonte when I moved here, even when I was desperate for an apartment and couldn’t find one in State College.

I think what I’m missing is something “romantic” about life, and perhaps I’m just pulled into the quaint beauty of Bellefonte. State College’s romance wore off after about three hours of being in town…

To counter Paul’s wisdom, though, we might also say, “Why live in a small town that can’t accept it’s a small town and is trying way too hard to not be (in all the wrong ways), when you can actually live in a small town that’s okay with being a small town?”

But in the last analysis (haha), I probably won’t live in Bellefonte anyway. The commute would kill me, esp. on those late nights of working.

]]> By: Andrew http://michaeljfaris.com/blog/2009/09/changes-and-such/comment-page-1/#comment-23989 Andrew Fri, 25 Sep 2009 16:01:13 +0000 http://michaeljfaris.com/blog/?p=1449#comment-23989 Having lived in Bellefonte for a year, I wouldn't suggest it. I know a lot of people in the department are really excited by living in Bellefonte, but I really, really hated living there. Of course, part of the problem was that we lived in duplex with some really, really skeezy people, but, more importantly, the thing that drove me nuts about Bellefonte was the commute. I hated having to constantly worry about how I was getting to and from school when it was snowing (as it often was). Also, the time I wasted having to drive to and from campus every day (or even just three times a week for teaching) really bugged me. And the fact that you end up getting assigned crappy parking as a student meant having to ride the Blue Loop in from the parking lot whenever you go to campus. In addition to that, if you go out drinking at night in State College, you have to worry about driving home. We actually figured out that the money we were saving in rent was being spent on gasoline. I just don't see why people would willingly choose a 25 minute commute to State College when they didn't have to. Additionally, I find that Bellefonte makes State College look like a bastion of progressive liberalism. Sure it's quaint, but as one of our neighbors used to say (he was one of the 10 or so black people in town), he gets a police escort whenever he goes out jogging. As Paul Youngquist once said to me about living in Bellefonte: "if you already live in the middle of nowhere, why would you want to move further away?" Anyway, to make a long story short, I hated, hated, hated my time in Bellefonte. What a dump. Having lived in Bellefonte for a year, I wouldn’t suggest it. I know a lot of people in the department are really excited by living in Bellefonte, but I really, really hated living there. Of course, part of the problem was that we lived in duplex with some really, really skeezy people, but, more importantly, the thing that drove me nuts about Bellefonte was the commute. I hated having to constantly worry about how I was getting to and from school when it was snowing (as it often was). Also, the time I wasted having to drive to and from campus every day (or even just three times a week for teaching) really bugged me. And the fact that you end up getting assigned crappy parking as a student meant having to ride the Blue Loop in from the parking lot whenever you go to campus. In addition to that, if you go out drinking at night in State College, you have to worry about driving home. We actually figured out that the money we were saving in rent was being spent on gasoline. I just don’t see why people would willingly choose a 25 minute commute to State College when they didn’t have to.

Additionally, I find that Bellefonte makes State College look like a bastion of progressive liberalism. Sure it’s quaint, but as one of our neighbors used to say (he was one of the 10 or so black people in town), he gets a police escort whenever he goes out jogging.

As Paul Youngquist once said to me about living in Bellefonte: “if you already live in the middle of nowhere, why would you want to move further away?”

Anyway, to make a long story short, I hated, hated, hated my time in Bellefonte. What a dump.

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