Nancy Drew and the Case of the Small Town Blues

As Auntie Mame mentioned, I recently moved far far away. My new home town is Lynchburg, VA.

Lynchburg is a small city of about 65,000. Not so bad, you might think. That's big enough that there ought to be enough to do, and small enough that it ought to be quaint and cozy. Well, you'd be wrong on both counts.

The problem with Lynchburg is not so much that it's small - it's more that it is SO conservative. Jerry Falwell lives here, and much of his "theology" permeates the culture here. There isn't much of a downtown area (though in fairness they have been trying to redevelop downtown and they are making slow progress) and instead most of Lynchburg resembles the boring suburbs in which I grew up.

So why, you may ask, did I move here? I've been asking myself the same question. Seriously, I went to college here at a fabulous little school called Randolph-Macon Woman's College. Now I work at the College. I am the American Culture Program coordinator. The Program is an interdisciplinary approach to education - we combine history, literature, art, music, politics, etc. to look at issues in American culture from different angles. Then we take students on the road to visit historic sites, meet interesting people, and do more hands-on learning. You can find out all about it at the fabulous new web site I just made: http://faculty.rmwc.edu/americanculture.

I've been here for almost two months now, and though things are getting better, I'm still pretty homesick. But in an effort to overcome that, I am hosting a housewarming party this weekend. I only know a handful of people in town, but I figure even a small party can be a great party. I'll report on that next week.