The Bubble
When talking about my small town where I grew up, I am probably biased because for all of my adult life I have lived in the desert city of Tucson Arizona. Flying into Tucson International Airport at dusk is a grand sight. The plane comes in from the north, and you pass the Catalina Mountains. Mt. Lemmon, which is the tallest mountain in the region, greets you. A little farther down the mountain you start seeing foothills where million dollar estates dot the base of the mountain. From there the Tucson Metro Area starts, home of more than 500,000 people, and after spending a day in Tucson you can see why so many people make the ..Old Pueblo.. their home. I live here out of chance. I work for the United States Air Force, and they were the ones who chose this desert oasis for my home.
Before I joined the military, I lived in the town of Lowell, in an area outside Gary Indiana. Lowell is an oasis, not in the desert, but in a sea of corn and bean fields. State Road Two runs right down the center of town. While driving down this small two-lane road, you pass several convenience stores. One of them is called Speedway, and it..s the only place in town open 24 hours. Because of that fact, it has become sort of a hang out for young teenagers. Which only shows the boredom that those growing up there are forced to endure. Then you notice a few fast food restaurants. They also have become places where the town's youth waste away their lives. Most of the time they rarely even buy anything. They just stay in the parking lot for hours talking about the drama in their lives. For the older crowd there are five bars. I guess you can call that a night life, but I would hardly say that is positive. You see nothing that would give reason for people to want to stay in this rural wasteland or why 5,000 people would settle for a life here.
When traveling down this road which the residents call Commercial Ave, as the name states almost all the businesses in town are found on this central route. When I grew up in Lowell, this road only had three stop lights. During the 26 years of my life, they have only put in two more traffic lights, making a grand total of five.
Once when I went back to visit, I got the same answer from about five different people when I asked them, "So, what's new here?" The answer was, "They're putting in a Walgreens!" It was seriously huge news for the town that they were getting a Walgreens. The Walgreens was built on that same main road, "Commercial." Another time when we went back the big news was that they were getting a third grocery store, an Aldi's. , Again, it was built on "Commercial."
My father works at Rieter Automotive Factory, which is the only job with real benefits you can get in Lowell. Luckily, he has been working there for years and during job-cuts in the 1990's, he was spared. If a person is not hired at Rieter or at an Auto-Repair Shop in town, they are either stuck working at one of the previously mentioned eating establishments or convenience stores. Most find jobs out of town, but they rarely travel far from it.
The best way to describe this town that time forgot is like a Bubble, where it seems like the news of the outside world barely relates to anyone inside. When I come to visit, only because of my remaining members of my family that live there, I run into other people from my past. They were my high school classmates, past employers, and infatuations of my young adulthood. When they find out I live in Tucson, it might as well be on the other side of the world. Some seem appalled when they find out that my stay in Tucson is permanent; That I choose to live outside their secluded reality. Where they only watch the news, but don..t live in the midst of current affairs. In Lowell their evening news comes from Chicago which is nearly two hours away. The convenience store, bank, or restaurant that was robbed is on a street far away of which they have never heard. It is more likely that they are watching a fictional movie than the evening news.
Some might think I am being too critical of my former town; That I should be luckily to have grown up in a town where the only thing I was worried about as a teenager was the local police picking me up for a curfew violation. Personally I feel living here does not prepare people for the world outside their little bubble.
