Staying Home

 

Americans have a weird relationship with their roots. Most folk want to be from somewhere, but they often don’t want to be in that somewhere. As someone who has unusually old roots in Northern Virginia — perhaps one of the most transient parts of the country — I think I might witness this more than most.

Few people who live in Northern Virginia want to stay here — they come for the jobs, do their 20 or 30 years of federal service, and then depart for greener (or, more typically, sandier) pastures. They proudly flaunt paraphernalia from their home state on their vehicles and place little garden flags from their alma maters in their front yards. They complain about how terrible Northern Virginia is — the cost of living, the traffic, its transient nature (they often fail to see the irony of that last one) — and brag about their home states. Californians are insufferable with this.

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