New England

I was raised mostly in Los Angeles county, California, even though I was born and spent my first 4 years in Seattle, Washington. In California I learned after I was 6 and lived in Los Angeles County, first in Tujunga and later at age 8 in Glendale that Southern California is very experimental and as I grew up I came to call it Controlled Chaos.

When I was younger I would have thought of the sense of order in New England quite oppressive after growing up in L.A. However, as an older person now of 61 I find it a different quality, one of safety and organization. Just as I find the experimentalism of California useful to the whole nation and the world, I also find the order and safety that historically has passed down through the centuries in New England and the East Coast quite useful to survival on many levels over periods of hundreds of years of society. I can see that New England literally is a new version of England in many ways. It is interesting to me that I always considered Canada much like this as well and having been raised in Seattle which is right next door to Canada, the politeness and formality of England and Canada also permeates Seattle life as well because of the proximity and influence. So since by 4 my personality was set in many ways I have carried this sense of order and politeness I got there into California. So discovering this same similar kind of order and politeness now in New England at age 61 I find renewing and hopeful.

I'm very worried about my home state of California making it through the present economic crisis. Though it was caused by out of state energy companies taking advantage of utility consumers in California originally it also has grave implications for the rest of the country. California, being innovative normally leads the country through innovation out of recessions. However, I'm worried that California has been dealt a hopefully not fatal blow this time and that some useful way to emerge from the latest crisis will be found.