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I grew up in a pretty leftish environment -- my family lived in Massachusetts, in the suburbs of Boston, and was active in the Unitarian-Universalist church; my father, a professor at Tufts, was one of those liberal academics you hear about. After leaving home, therefore, I got used to being surrounded by people whose political views were to the right of mine. That was the case, in varying degrees, in Pittsburgh, in Kentucky, and in Gaithersburg.
But now I live in Takoma Park, Maryland, famed locally as being inhabited largely by granola-munching treehuggers. This reputation is not entirely undeserved -- just as an example, Takoma Park was the first community in the United States to formally declare itself a nuclear-free zone (with an exception for the radiology department at the Adventist hospital). It is, in fact, the first place I have ever lived where my politics are to the right of center.
This is taking some getting used to.
In Gaithersburg, if I mowed the lawn, my next-door neighbor would take it as a hint to mow his own (and vice versa). When I mowed the lawn here a couple of days ago, my next-door neighbor took it as a hint to clean the sign declaring his yard a certified wildlife habitat.
In Gaithersburg one only saw yard signs in election season; around here there are always yard signs proclaiming civil marriage to be a civil right, or demanding "Stop the War" without specifying which war, or arguing in favor of expanding public transit ("Purple Line = Greener Future" is the single most common sign I see).
Most of the Obama/Biden signs are gone now, but not all of them. There weren't any McCain signs.
Recent city council meetings have been debating whether or not to ban gas-powered leaf-blowers -- not because they're noisy, but because they waste fossil fuel and pollute the air. They've resolved that no city employee will use the things anymore, but an outright ban is on hold until they figure out how much of a hassle enforcement would be.
The city will plant trees in your yard for you more or less at cost.
There are no chain stores in Takoma Park; they aren't allowed. This means most of the folks here do their shopping in Silver Spring or Washington or Hyattsville.
It's... interesting.
But now I live in Takoma Park, Maryland, famed locally as being inhabited largely by granola-munching treehuggers. This reputation is not entirely undeserved -- just as an example, Takoma Park was the first community in the United States to formally declare itself a nuclear-free zone (with an exception for the radiology department at the Adventist hospital). It is, in fact, the first place I have ever lived where my politics are to the right of center.
This is taking some getting used to.
In Gaithersburg, if I mowed the lawn, my next-door neighbor would take it as a hint to mow his own (and vice versa). When I mowed the lawn here a couple of days ago, my next-door neighbor took it as a hint to clean the sign declaring his yard a certified wildlife habitat.
In Gaithersburg one only saw yard signs in election season; around here there are always yard signs proclaiming civil marriage to be a civil right, or demanding "Stop the War" without specifying which war, or arguing in favor of expanding public transit ("Purple Line = Greener Future" is the single most common sign I see).
Most of the Obama/Biden signs are gone now, but not all of them. There weren't any McCain signs.
Recent city council meetings have been debating whether or not to ban gas-powered leaf-blowers -- not because they're noisy, but because they waste fossil fuel and pollute the air. They've resolved that no city employee will use the things anymore, but an outright ban is on hold until they figure out how much of a hassle enforcement would be.
The city will plant trees in your yard for you more or less at cost.
There are no chain stores in Takoma Park; they aren't allowed. This means most of the folks here do their shopping in Silver Spring or Washington or Hyattsville.
It's... interesting.