Commitment in San Diego

I went to Citizen Video last night to drop off some movies, and ended up going to the Whistle Stop with the owner of Citizen Video (the most charming lady ever). We met up with some new friends and ran into some old friends, and danced the night away to One Nation (Djs Blackstone and Atari). Whistle Stop is a happening little place in the South Park/Golden Hill part of town.

At any rate I ran into a friend and we had a long conversation about San Diego. We discussed common San Diego themes: transience, impermanence, disenfranchisement, and commitment. There is a whole contingent of people who live in San Diego, and have lived here for years that can't commit to the place. No matter how long they live here, 25 years even, and they still don’t think of it as home. They just resign themselves to it. Being a Midwesterner, the fact that there are barely seasons makes it hard for me. It’s the whole issue of feeling disenfranchised from the place. For a lot of new residents of San Diego the perpetual good weather just makes life and time slip by so easily. Ten years go by, and people never have to deal with the city. You deal with a city when, for instance, there’s a huge ice storm or snowstorm that turn routine activities on their head. That is when you are forced to deal with a place. Forced to come to terms with where you are. I suspect that for a lot of people who live here, they just exist in a kind of figurative homelessness. That can't feel very good. Or I should say, it doesn't. I vacillate between feeling at home here and feeling foreign.

People come and go from this town pretty quickly too, but the fact of the matter is, there are people here who call this place home. There are a lot of people who grew-up here, and went to high school here. That’s important. Those of us who are unable to deal with San Diego should take lessons from the long time residents. It might bring some much needed peace-of-mind. Maybe if we all started surfing the San Diego angst would fade.

Check it out:
Citizen Video
Whistle Stop Bar