Sprawltown

Today I came face to face with an unfortunate type of place in Utah, but common I fear, even ubiquitous. I noticed as my students and I drove north on I-15, in search of a mythical sounding elementary school, that things started to change as soon as we hit 'the point of the mountain'. Now, this is no new phenomenon, the 'point' is infamous for reversals of all sorts, and today was no exception. We literally went from sunny, beautiful spring weather, to a dreary, foggy mist in an instant—it was like something out of a horror movie. Yet a couple of miles later I found myself in another type of movie, one like Pleasantville or The Truman Show, yet somehow less realistic, less authentic and less charming. As we cursed our faulty directions we began to notice a pattern down each street we drove—houses, lots and lots of houses, blocks and streets, even miles of homes interspersed with the required amount of churches and an occasional elementary school. And zero pedestrians. Ah, the American Dream…every man, woman and child for themselves. No center, no culture, no heart. As we found our school and completed our monomyth, I found myself hoping that I would open my eyes and find it was all a dream, that it would all disappear. I am still hoping.

In a community that claims to care about community, there is a surprising lack of it. Only in Utah…

Upcoming entry: Eating the popcorn off the apricot tree.