Concentric Communities

Posted to personal blog on December 14, 2011

The excitement really started to build even before leaving Zootown. On the same flight was a friend traveling home to Mexico and there the Spanish conversing began. It continued with the sisters in the Denver airport going to Acapulco, then with the Guatemalan man in my aisle on the Huston flight, then the pizza concession boys in George Bush International Airport… Speaking Spanish is like a drug to my brain, it feels so good to be at it again.

Moving to Missoula from Wyoming made me feel as if I was really getting into a diverse community. Now, having left again I see how blanco it really is. But Missoula is diverse in its own way: for the town’s size there are so many concentric circles that people identify with. There are hipsters, foresters, yuppies, punks, grad students, hippies, hippie-haters, trustifarians, EVST majors, kayakers, beer snobs and more. Many individuals overlap into at least three of these groups. One evening at the Sunrise Saloon may seem radically different from a party at Free Cycles, yet, you’re likely to see some faces in common.

Such an understanding of a community is difficult when popping into a foreign country but these communities evolve within hostels, neighborhoods, plazas, cooperatives and the like. I seek these communities, perhaps to talk with them or merely be an observer. I’ll tell you their stories.

Photo by Michael Beall