Thoughts on Being "Back East" From a Western Girl

Having been in western New York for a few months now I thought I would share a few observations. I have lived in the east before, as a child. But really I'm a western girl at heart. I was born in California, practically raised in Utah, most of my family and friends are in Utah or Washington and I do love the weather in the desert better than anywhere else I've ever been.

All in all I think this move has been good for us. Les has a much better job and my job is almost as good as the one I had in Washington. Putting some distance between us and our families has been interesting. It doesn't seem to have any effect on my relationship with my family except that my dad is much more excited to come see us here than he was in Vernal or Price. And why shouldn't he be Niagara Falls (something he's always wanted to see) is way cooler than Starvation Reservoir or Scofield. It is straining our relationships with Les's family more. My attempt to relate to them based on actual thoughts and feelings through email has done nothing but cause problems. I think especially his parents much preferred the relationship where we came to the house and all conversation revolved around the church, the happy past where everyone was Mormon or the weather. In the big picture I think it has been good for Les to have some distance from his family. he's sometimes had a hard time in the past separating himself from them and I think some physical distance will help him figure out who he really is and not who he is expected to be, which is a very big part of most exmormons' lives.

But that isn't what this post is really about (but can you tell it's been on my mind a lot lately?). There are some major differences that I've noticed, some good some bad, some just different.

First, population density. Until I moved to Price when I was 17 I was a city girl, through and through. I am to some degree, see the post from last March about that, but small towns have grown on me. While there are small towns out here, they are all so close together and so close to a big city that the "small town feel" like in Price, Entiat, Chelan and even Wenatchee is gone. The small towns around here are more like slightly isolated suburbs. There is also very little open space or public land, a pretty big change from Utah, where the federal government is the largest landholder.  This means there are more things to see, but less of it is accessible. It's sorta putting a kink in my photography.

There are a ton of things to see around here. We are only a few hours away from New York City, Philidelphia, Pittsburg, Boston, D.C. and a ton of other historical and cultural centers of America. On one hand it feels older, like there is more history here. On the other hand the history I enjoyed so much in the Southwest is actually older and I love the mystery surrounding it.

Then there's the coffee. Living in Washington I was in the heart of coffee lover land, you would think I would have found the best coffee in the world in the birthplace of Starbuck's. But that isn't the case. I have found it here, in western New York. To be fair it comes from Canada and I could have gotten in it in B.C. but it would have been a few hours drive. It is Tim Horton's, I am officially addicted and I love it! It puts Starbuck's to shame, the coffee is MUCH better and it's about 1/4 of the price.

But the best thing is that even people's attitudes are different. The biggest example of this I can think of is the reaction I get to telling people I am childfree. Not one single person has said to me that I will change my mind, no one has asked if I hate all children, no one has even asked why. IT IS WONDERFUL! The closest I've been to being bingoed is when a friend and coworker said after meeting Les, "I really hope the two of you change your mind about having kids. You guys remind me of me and my husband and your kids would be the biggest smart-asses in the world, kinda like my kids." I took that as a compliment. In Utah I stopped telling people that I didn't want kids because I was constantly harassed and either told I was a bad person,wrong or both. I met people in Washington who respected my choice and even a few who shared it, but even there about half the people I told reacted like the people in Utah did.It is so nice to share something about myself and not be treated like some kind of freak. So maybe putting some distance between us and Utah will lead to both me and Les leading more authentic lives.

Eastman House, Rochester, NY

Today we explored one of the coolest things about living this close to Rochester, The George Eastman House. It is divided into two section, part of it is George Eastman's mansion he built in the early twentieth century and was his home until he died in 1932. Since the forties, it's been a museum and in 1989, the addition opened. The house has been restored to almost it's exact state during Eastman's life (he took thousands of photos in his home, which have been a benefit to restoration). The newer portion is the exhibition area.

We took a guided tour of the house and saw four exhibits in the newer portion. One called "Looking at Trees" did not impress us, the photos were only okay and the print quality left a lot to be desired.

But we really enjoyed "Taking Aim: Unforgettable Rock ’n’ Roll Photographs Selected by Graham Nash" which featured more than 100 photos from the Experience Music Project in Seattle's Space Needle. We regret not seeing the Experience Music Project while we lived in Washington and we're glad we were able to see this small portion of it. The photos were selected by Graham Nash, so there were a lot of the folk rock stars of the late sixties and the seventies. A few more recent artists were included, there were a lot of great photos, but Nash's bias is quite apparent (there were definitely way too many photos of Bob Dylan).

We liked the permanent exhibit of the history of the camera. We learned a lot about the evolution of the camera and it was interesting to see the different models and types of cameras.

The final exhibit was "A Fire in My Belly," a short film that was previously housed at the National Portrait Gallery at the Smithsonian. It was "removed after protests from a religious group that found some of the content offensive" and several museums around the country are protesting its censorship by showing it. It will be here until the end of January. We found it odd and neither of us understood it but couldn't figure out what there was to censor. We tend to agree with those who protested the film's removal.

There are several gardens at Eastman House — 12.5 acres worth. Because of the bitter cold, we didn't even see the gardens' snow-covered forms. They open fully in May. In February, the house will have hundreds of tulip blooms (part of some Dutch festival). So we have reason to go back.

On a side-note, we saw the first Washington plate that wasn't ours since we were in Montana. It probably had something to do with the EMP exhibit and it was gone when we left. But it could have been a tourist just as well. We have seen a few Utah plates, but that is hardly surprising.