Cities I've Known

• Cleveland, Ohio is your sports-nut uncle.
• Columbus, Ohio is the next-door neighbor who shares your taste in music, clothes and movies - but has a much bigger house and a much later bedtime.
• Athens, Ohio is the old friend you can count on to never change and never forget who you really are.
• New Orleans, Louisiana is the secret lover who brings out your sensual side.
• Raleigh, North Carolina is the hip friend who gracefully juggles faith, motherhood, work and play. 
• Traverse City, Michigan is the happy Deadhead who never got off the bus.
• Arcadia, Michigan is your baby, your heart, your one true love.
• Savannah, Georgia is your youthful great aunt who still gets it.
• Tucson, Arizona is your teenaged niece who can't decide if she wants to be an outdoor adventurer, a peace-loving hippy or a carefree drunk - and doesn't see the contradictions in being all three.
• Phoenix, Arizona is your over-conferenced, golf-bag toting, millionaire uncle.
• St. Louis, Missouri is the family friend who's just as comfortable with the kids as she is with the grown-ups.
• Las Vegas, Nevada is your high school chum who still thinks it's cool to stay out all night and pass out in strangers' hotel rooms.

What cities do you know?

Comments

[david]

This is a great post. You should do a meme!

I consider myself tagged. Look for Ft. Myers, FL; Chapel Hill, NC; New York; San Francisco; Columbus, OH (my less charitable take); Denver; and of course, Chicago.

[Sarah, Goon Squad Sarah]

Tampa, Florida - Your best friend from high school. Even though there is a lot you no longer have in common, you still feel comfortable every time you are around her.

Orlando, Florida - Some one you hung out with in Jr. High for a couple of weeks because they were popular, but it turned out they were a real jerk. All flash, no soul.

Ft. Lauderdale, Florida - An ex-boyfriend. You went out with him because he was really beautiful, but he liked himself a lot more than you did.

Washington D.C. - Your suitemate from college - She is more wordly than I am, she knows more about current events and history, but she is interesting and fun and cool. She can always think of something new to do that I can learn from, but she has a lot of other friends, so her phone is busy a lot.

[Jerm]

The term "meme" (IPA: /miːm/, to rhyme with "theme", not /mɛm/ or /mimi/), coined in 1976 by the zoologist and evolutionary scientist Richard Dawkins, refers to a unit of cultural information transferable from one mind to another. ---I think I better go sit on the bus with Traverse City!

[Becky]

Paris. She's not a girl or even a young woman anymore. But she still wears a little too much makeup. Her skirt is just a bit too short, her heels a bit too high. She leans in a little too close and familiar and whispers something sweet in your ear. Then she blows smoke in your face and lets her frou-frou dog shit on your shoes. (And, boy, is she a cranky bitch since they won't let her chain smoke in public anymore.) But you keep hanging out with her because she knows all the best places to eat and all the cool people. Besides, you like her accent.

[Alison]

David: Great idea. I tried to turn a blog writing exercise into a meme once before - but nobody bit outside of the comments.

Sarah, Becky: These are great. You could both follow David's idea and write some others in posts on your blogs, then tag others to do the same on their blogs.

Jerm: I like having you on my bus, even if you don't keep up with all of the blogging jargon.

[mich]

Garfield Heights, Ohio -- The man sitting on the bus in front of you who failed to comb his hair this morning and it is sticking up in tufts like a seven-year-old boy. He wears eyeglasses with thick plastic frames circa 1983 and black tennis shoes. He eats TV dinners every night.

[jen]

Jerm, if you're the driver I'd be on board. Your mastery and eloquence of the English language astounds me.

Mansfield, OH is where your friend is locked up.

Pittsburgh, PA is a friend that would take a bullet for the Steelers, but has the heart of an angel.

Negril, Jamaica is the ganja man in sound, spirit, and mind.