"I think I’ll never live here again, but I will come back now and then for these things and the people that have knowingly or unknowingly compelled me to do more."Erika West, blogging on Karmic Ironies
Erika West, as you may know, is moving to Texas to pursue her doctorate. Her recent posts on leaving Oklahoma got me to thinking about my own comings and goings, which are as follows:
Oklahoma City
West Memphis, Arkansas and Memphis, Tennessee
(I saw Graceland when someone lived there.)
St. Louis
Shreveport
Oklahoma City
Tulsa
San Jose
Oklahoma City (okay, Edmond)
San Antonio
Oklahoma City
As you can see, there is a certain repetition there. I've probably mentioned this before, but I live just a few blocks from the garage apartment in which my parents lived when I was born. I'm less than a mile from the homes of my grandparents.
This is not exactly a promised land for artsy, intellectual or pseudointellectual (whichever I may be) leftists. But for some reason, I keep being drawn back to Oklahoma City. When I was in Texas, I had the financial means to live just about anywhere in the US I chose. Friends urged me to go to Austin or back to the bay area. I chose the comfort of familiar landmarks and surroundings over the adventure of a new city.
When I came back here this last time, both my parents and all my grandparents had passed on. There were no relatives to visit or rely upon (unless you count my ex). But there were the familiar and comfortable sights: the Gold Star building at OCU, the oft-renamed Ramsey Tower (I remember when I could see the Liberty Bank 'Weather Beacon' from my grandmother's front porch), the Gold Dome at 23rd & Classen, the Arrows to Atoms Tower at the fairgrounds. I also remember the smaller tower that preceded it, and being on 'Foreman Scotty's Circle 4 Ranch' when it was live from the OPUBCO Pavilion during the 1957 State Fair.
Not only is this neighborhood my 'bubble' - it's been my 'bubble' all my life, even when I was living 45 minutes south of San Francisco.
I kept coming back, and I hope this time it's to stay. I need be nowhere else.
1 comment:
Somebody said to me that Oklahoma was a funnel. I'm not totally sure about the imagery, but he meant that it was a place that people always come back to. Maybe it's like a boomerang guy standing in the prairie throwing out bent people with all his might and then waiting for them to return on their accord. Whatever it is that makes people come back you express well. And who knows--I may change my mind some day, too.
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