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Our experiences throughout life affect our perceptions, attitudes, and beliefs. Where we grew up, the people we knew, the places we lived and traveled, and what we did all build who we are. I started the first eleven years of my life in Cedar Falls, Iowa. A fair sized city by comparison to a typical Iowan town. Home of the University of Northern Iowa, the Panthers. An area full of parks, streams, playgrounds, kids running free without supervision, I was one of them, an area I recall my parents saying was stuck around twenty to thirty years in the past. Yes, many of us played video games indoors, but my friends and I spent the majority of our time smashing sticks against tree-monsters, racing twigs down makeshift streams, across an entire block during torrential downfall, barefoot, and in soaked t-shirts; climbing into cow enclosures, and summarily running for your life, and onto the roof of our houses conveniently accessible from a nearby tree – the bark peeled off by shoe-sole, and branches snapped throughout. Trees, plants, and wildlife were plentiful. The street intersecting was even fittingly named Tremont.

The tree-monster of Tremont Street. It was created by carefully wrapping and contorting four trees together over the course of their growth.

We didn’t think about germs, catching a cold, murderers and kidnappers at every corner – we ignorantly enjoyed every day to the fullest, much like how my parents and others of their generation grew up before cable news scared everyone to their homes behind locked doors. This was just before the boys in black and/or blue began to occasionally arrest little girls for lemonade stands (at least we didn’t hear about it) and take notice of kids for walking home from school alone, without a socially acceptable escort.

These idyllic days then ended abruptly. I moved to Michigan at eleven years of age. This is not to say the joy completely ended, it was just a new chapter in my life with new people, places, and experiences. A beautiful area, full of many public woods and beaches to enjoy. As nice as the nature is, I experienced a lot of culture shock that has its effect on me to this day. Most kids played inside. I rarely saw my neighbors or friends after High School started. People seemed to value consumption above all else, buying a basketball hoop to keep up with the Joneses. I recall nearly every neighbor purchasing a basketball setup after our family set up ours, to rarely see any of them used. Finely cut green grass, speed boat and sea-dos, identical square foliage next to every door. In response to this new culture, I retreated into my own interests and school work. I don’t recall thoroughly reading a book or working on a homework assignment outside of school until a few years after this time, at about age thirteen. This eventually led to me going to The University of Michigan, and then today, Grand Valley State University. In many ways change was good, but I wonder how things may have developed differently, what choices I would have made, had I never left my original home.