Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Manhappiness


I finally met Dale of Making Manhattan Better fame. We didn't chat very long, but my old feelings of Manhattan defensiveness were stirred up again. Even if I agree with most of what he says, I just can't stop loving this town. I love the trees arching over the street. I love that I meet someone I know every time I leave my house. I love the St. Patrick's Day parade, Juneteenth, the Riley County Fair, and Arts in the Park. I love the parks, Konza Prairie, the zoo, and Pillsbury Crossing. We have a few good eating establishments, enough for people who are able to eat out as seldom as we are. I love that Manhattan is a small town where you can see an opera.

I won't say that my beloved mini-city is without faults. We are a bit behind on living the green lifestyle. There also seems to be a tension between the liberals and conservatives (perhaps a touch of town/gown issues) that blows up into a large conflict fairly regularly. We also seem to have more options for eating meat than one person could ever explore thoroughly.

I think it's also difficult to find your niche in Manhattan. We're used to being the town of the revolving door, so it's hard for us to warm up to new people. Most of them will be moving on soon, anyway. We need to open up a little.

But I'm willing to accept the bad with the good. We've thought several times about moving to different places, but always think of some way that we just couldn't live without Manhappiness.

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