Don’t go back to Rockville

With a pending move, I’ve had a chance to look back over the past decade that I’ve spent here in Iowa City. Long, strange trips, indeed. I never could have imagined what was in store for me when I showed up on Linn Street in May 1996. My first place was downtown, and that was a great introduction to the pulse of the city. The places that we live in shape us in perceptible ways. One undoubtedly adopts the tone and texture of one’s city.

I did grad school here and have held a variety of interesting jobs — most having something to do with the web. In college, I chose a philosophy major (with a heavy underpinning of computer science), I think mostly because the small private college I went to only had one journalism-oriented course in the English dept. I knew that an English major wasn’t quite the thing I wanted, but it was hard in those early days to really express what it was.

Philosophy though was an excellent choice, looking back at it now. It was my declared major when I went to Luther, and it is also what I ended up with. Philosophy has given me a foundation of thought to build upon. It taught me how to think and sharpened my analytical skills. But even more than that, I turn back to philosophy as the basis for a thoughtful, good life.

My hope is that a new location will spur new and interesting thoughts. I will meet people with different values — even though the Midwest gets lumped together, there are perceptible differences between the cultures of where I am now and where I will be.

As I have grown a little older, I see the value in change. It is good to try on new things. It is good to visit far off places. It is good … to experience people we’re not used to. But I think that’s just life. That’s about staying curious, and learning from what the world has to offer.

I’m an optimist at heart, and I see hope in change. I see a bright and vibrant future ahead for all of us. If you engage life, it will engage you back.

So tonight, I have a bit of quiet before I have to start packing. Tomorrow I meet with the movers to plan out the logistics of my move. And then soon enough I’ll be off.

Memories of this place will remain. Memories of the people and the places, the events and the happenings. I will remember the many, many hours spent in coffee shops talking, reading, and enjoying the college town lifestyle. And a special, deeply felt bow to “Mad Dog” John, PhD, and to Jane, PhD, who is now in the UK. You’ve been the greatest of friends.