Urban Jacksonville

I do love Jacksonville - this is the 4th city I've called "home" and the question posed Miss Brinda is an interesting one. Personally, I think its a good question but not the only dynamic to be considered when looking at this topic. I mean, I have "bought into" every city I've lived so far - is that because each place has been super-fantastic or is it because of the responsibility I have to make this world a better place than I found it for the generations to come?

I do concede that out of the 4 cities I've lived in,scranton, indy, savannah, & jax, I still hold my "hometown" in the highest regard and yet it's most likely the least appealing destination on that list. Maybe it's because I loved it the most....

Great thought provoking topic -

Oh this is lovely!
I think about this every day. I think a lot of us do. We love Jacksonville but can't quite decide to remain here. Yet we remain and critique and work to make little things better or at least different.
I read some scholar a year ago who was writing about professors that teach at Universities far from their home. He was questioning this practice, saying pretty much what Marielle is--that if you don't pay serious attention to your own environment you'll never improve it, and you'll be hard pressed to care as much for another place than your home. He used a phrase that has echoed in my head since. Something about choosing to be native to your place. Born into it, responsive to it, embraced by it.
Since leaving New York to return home, here, I've wondered every day, and hoped actually, that I would at some point feel that I'd (unconsciously) made the choice to become native to this place, and never wish to leave again. I keep approaching that state. I don't think I'm there yet.
The more I learn about our climate and ecologies the closer I get. The more I work with the city itself, it's politics and policies and problems, and people, the closer I get.
Jacksonville's potential is what keeps me interested. Someone whose mind likes to solve problems will never be bored here. Something always pops up. Something that could be better.
Home is a strange thing.
Patria...