Reflections

Thursday November 19 2009

When we lived in NYC, I couldn't help but feel somewhat superior to people who didn't live there.  It was just so cool being at the center of the universe that it was unimaginable to live anywhere else.  And of course I thought we'd neve leave.  But then I moved to the Berkshires.  And what do you know but once again I began to develop a sense of what I'll call "locational superiority."  The Berkshires are the absolute best place to live, the most beautiful, the most cultural, the nicest and most interesting people.  To the exclusion of everywhere else.

This road trip, though, has given me me a new perspective.  There are lots of "best places to live" in the U.S., and Indianapolis is high on my list as one of the best.  (that's a sentence I never thought I'd write)  I don't know the shenanigans over how the NCAA moved its headquarters from KCMO to Indianapolis, but it's easy for me to see why they did (all due respect to KCMO).

It's easy to get around, it hasn't given up on its historic neighborhoods, and it puts private and public money into cultural endeavors for the public.  I stayed at a charming little bed and breakfast in the Chatham Arch neighborhood, built originally in the mid-19th century, gentrified in the past several decades by a large, dedicated and respected gay community.   The couple who owns the inn are retired school professionals who lived in suburban Hartford for some years, and who returned to Indianapolis to retire.  They're active in the Chatham Arch Neighborhood Association, one of a number of neighborhood associations in the city that raise private money to beautify their commuities.

I was touched when I learned that an elderly gay couple who lived in an era not as open as ours who were so thrilled to see the neighborhood developed by gays that when they died they left over $1 million to the Chatham Arch Neighborhood Association.  Now that's commitment!

I was awakened both mornings I was at the inn far earlier than I would like by construction noise on the street.  The project--completing a link to the 7 1/2 mile urban bike and pedestrian greenway that winds through the city.  Like Bloomington, Indianapolis is becoming a city of bikers, facilitated in part by a government that provides money to build the appropriate roads and adorn them with public art.  The Indianapolis greenway hooks up to a 150-mile cross-state National Road Heritage Trail for bikers and walkers. 

I missed it but last weekend was the opening of the Indianapolis Winter Farmers Market, held every Saturday from November through sometime in the spring (when the summer markets open).  There are dozens of vendors.  Several thousand people showed up for the opening last Saturday.

Urban gardens are a big deal in Indianapolis, much like what is developing in Louisville.  So one of the outcomes of this road trip adventure is to curb my locational elitism.  There's a lot to like out here.