For The Record- 17. August. 2024

It seems like I've been here before

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KA~

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The well well well, if it isnt the consequences of my own actions edition.

Earlier this week, Noah Kalina asked the following:

How many years do you need to live somewhere before you are considered a local?

It’s an interesting thought exercise: if you ask 10 people, you‘re likely to get 11 answers. In fact, that’s exactly what happened, with people responding with things like:

• In New England, the rule is simple. You are considered a local as soon as you have three grandparents who were born in the town where you live.

• You have to be born there. That's the rules.

and

• If you've integrated into a place, accepted it, love it and committed to it in any way, you're a local.

It is a nuanced subject indeed. I was born and raised in Portland, but I have now lived in Wisconsin almost as long as I did in Oregon (with Washington and Tennesee rounding out the numbers). The last time I had a 503 area code, George W. Bush was president. So why does it still feel like home?

I love Wisconsin and have lived here since… GW Bush was president. I also talk about home being a state of mind more than anything. I have raised a family here, yet I still feel like an expat.

What gives?

I’ve made this joke before, but how can you tell if someone is from Oregon? The answer, of course, is to wait 5 seconds, and they’ll tell you. I’m no exception. What can I say? I love my home state. I still talk about PDX as if I live there. It’s only a little hyperbolic when I say it’s the city that raised me.