"Programmed into the human soul is a preference for the near and familiar and a suspicion of the remote and abstract."

In my opinion, this statement is only half true: the “suspicion of the remote and abstract” is definitely innate, but the fact remains that a limited amount of central stability is necessary for life.

I personally love both chain stores and locally owned shops. Locally owned shops usually have an ambience of community and quality, and I usually go to local stores when I am looking for something rare, unknown, or “off-beat” that suits my personal style. I buy virtually unknown punk and alternative music at Salzer’s, non-mainstream clothing at Wild Planet, and authentic Mexican food at El Burrito Loco. On the other hand, corporations and chain stores are standardized and mainstream, which suits my needs when I want something popular or something very familiar to me. I buy more mainstream music at Sam Goody, regular black jeans or a band shirt at Hot Topic, and tacos at Taco Bell that I know I like. If I were visiting a foreign country, I would prefer McDonald’s to a local restaurant, because I know what I want and what I like at McDonald’s.

I have these same feelings towards government. I feel that state governments should have more power than the federal government concerning local issues, because it creates an ambience of community and quality. Only state or even more local governments can fully comprehend the issues of the state/county/city and be able to cater to the needs of the local residents. However, I feel that the federal government should have power over the nation as a whole, with checks and balances within itself and from the state governments. A strong (but not overly powerful) central government is necessary to create stability and nationwide standards.

As with America in the days of the Articles of Confederation, chaos comes from having a weak central government. However, a tyrannical central government, like England at the time of the American Revolution, only spells destruction. I agree with Caitlin in the fact that anarchy would be a wonderful thing…if it worked. But because of the nature of the human being, it cannot. Therefore, a happy medium between central government and local authority must be reached for America to prosper.

The exhilarating rush of the big city, the neck cramps you get from rubber necking just to look to the tops of those skyscrapers until finally your head feels like its going to drop off. The strange sensation you get from taking the metro in Rome, and watching other people around you speaking different languages. You catch side conversations in Italian, and with your little knowledge of Spanish you can piece together a general picture of what the people beside you are talking about; ranging anywhere from work, to gardens, to the Mediterranean weather.

The strange memories of London aroused from the smell that Kit Kats and coffee combine to make--the smell of chocolate and caffeine wafting in the air, lingering and twining around your senses, a metaphor for the bustle of the city driven by sugar and caffeine. Trying to understand Greek and Turkish while walking around the Spice Market in Istanbul and admiring the colors of countless herbs, while listening to more languages, and looking at all the commerce.

The wandering around the streets and asking people you have never met before for directions while at the same time trying to understand their quick and hurried speech. Coming upon shops, all of which are new to you, and going inside to explore, sometimes trying your hand at another language.

Such is the life in a big city, whether you are in New York, Dublin, London, Rome, or Istanbul, the city life never changes, only the culture. The same hustle and bustle, the countless shops and buildings, the architecture, the larger-than-life atmosphere that brings your ego down to perspective—I love this.

Cities are cultural hubs, and exhilarating places. Walking around beneath modern and ancient architecture, and meeting people from all around the world is like nothing you can experience in Ventura.

Walking into a coffee shop, where you can do your work, get something to drink, and look out the window and watch countless and nameless people on their way, business as usual, and just thinking about it all. How each person is another story, another example of a human life, another set of eyes that has experienced the world. To me, this is what the truly famous cities represent, a story.

Yet, at the same time, I love walking into old bookstores, where it’s always cool, and the light is always dim. Where a different aroma greets the nostrils, not of Kit Kats and coffee, but of knowledge and wisdom embedded in the yellowing pages of the stacks of books slowly collecting dust in shadowed corners. These small “mom and pop” book stores are the epitome of small town life, where you walk in, and the owner is sitting right behind the cash register. And as you walk up, and they see the book you’re about to buy, they go “Oh, yes, I remember reading this one, it’s a keeper”, and you wish you could just take a walk through their minds and see the countless amounts of knowledge piled up inside that brain, just waiting to be dusted off by a small reminder.

While I at times like the big cities, I prefer these more intimate places to the K-marts and Wal-marts dominated by emotionally devoid robots like Martha Stewart. These places you walk in, and the immediate word that flashes in your mind is “sterile”. These stores have no life, no atmosphere, no interesting knowledge waiting to be found, only extremely polished linoleum and “lower than life prices or your money back!”--it reeks of sweatshop labor. Sometimes I half expect to open a plastic toy—which of course is made in China—and find an “SOS” from some child back in Asia.

I HATE Wal-marts, especially those super centers! Oh man, you could get lost in those things for days while having to resort to eating the plasticky McDonald’s food that somehow found it’s way into what was originally a clothing store. And although I do enjoy coffee shops, I find it bizarre and annoying that I can drink my Mocha Frappuccino from Starbucks while looking out the window and gazing into an identical one right across the street from me—anyone ever notice that? This is precisely the monopoly I hate—that inconvenient convenience.

And while I at times opt for the big cities, I like the small towns as well. The kind where you drive out to in Italy and there’s nothing but rolling hills with miles of sunflowers and neighbors hanging up their laundry together while talking. And, if you stop at a Bed and Breakfast, you eat meals with the family that lives there, meals of delicious homemade food cooked with vegetables from their garden. And in between mouthfuls you talk to them, one on one, about life and whatever else. This has an air about it that I find as pleasing as the one from big cities.

I guess it just depends on my mood for the day… if only I could teleport. Or maybe I should just be rich so I can own a house in Tuscany, and one in London… that sounds pretty good. Ha, if only life were that simple.

To be near and familiar or to be remote and abstract? That is the question.

So I’ve heard a lot of good arguments about this topic so far. It appears that those who prefer the “remote and abstract” lifestyle enjoy the smaller scale atmosphere and the entire “hominess” of it all. But, as for me, I prefer to live my life knowing that I can get what I need to get at a cheap price when convenient at my own desire. Yes, I’m sure it is wonderful to have a friendship with the owner of the downtown bookstore. Yes, eating new foods and taking that plunge into the pool of adventure are great experiences, but do we really care where we get our food, clothes, etc? It is really that significant?

Now, I’m not the type of person who goes to Wal-Mart to buy electronics (Target rocks!), or goes to McDonalds to get imitation chicken nuggets with week old apple slices. No, that is not me. But lets say that I needed to get a pair of running shoes (Homeslice beware! You might get mad!). Why would I go to Inside Track, when I could purchase my shoes through Nike for a lower price? Because I know the person who works there? No. Because Nike is evil and uses young children as their prime source of labor? No. Inside Track is a great place (I’ve been there several times), and the owner is great, but I am offered a wider selection of shoes at Nike. Either way, there is great service, but I feel more of a negative pressure (a vibe, so to speak) to buy something at Inside Track because whenever I go there, I’m usually the only person in the store (besides Gary). Now if I went to Nike, I could try on a pair of shoes and refuse because there are way more people in the store, thus creating less pressure. I guess this mainly depends on one’s preferences.

This brings me to my next topic…rural versus urban. Imagine living in a small community where your neighbors know almost everything about you. Living in a community where all eyes are on you. Living in a community where there is no privacy? Who would want to live in this type of sick nightmare (besides the Puritans)? Not I.

It is not like living in a small community is much safer anyway. Even small towns and “united” communities can have a selection of crimes and other unwanted offensives. I remember reading not so long ago that suburban mothers are following the new trend of making their own methamphetamine in their homes. These “soccer moms” and “caring housewives” have their own meth factory inside their home! It’s not like they live in a rundown trashy area where poverty stalks the unfortunate. These are middle class mothers who live in eye pleasing neighborhoods. They simply take advantage of their atmosphere. Most of the time when the culprit’s neighbors are interviewed, they are stuck in a state of stupefying shock. “Who would have thought that Mrs. Smith sold meth every Tuesday afternoon behind the town bookstore? But this town is safe and everyone knows everyone. I can’t believe this happened!”

All in all, this world moves very fast. In this time period where convenience is crucial and technology is a must, I know I can depend on my local Vons grocery store anytime, rather than working my schedule around some expensive health food store with inconvenient store hours. I know the area will be in a convenient area, rather than behind some small “no name” shops. Why else are there six different McDonalds in one city? Or explain why Starbucks is right across from Starbucks? Convenience baby! Welcome to 2006! There is no reason to fight against the tide, just go with the flow. In this case, that “flow” leads to convenience. Fighting it would just be as pointless as attempting to remove T.J. from the American pantheon. You can’t delete him, because it is not possible to delete history (thank you Schwartz!).

I was born in the wrong century. When I was seven years old I became fascinated with Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House on the Prairie series. My grandma, being the sewing type, made me a few prairie-style dresses, an apron, and a bonnet. (She of course made my American Girl dolls matching outfits!) I wore those dresses everyday for at least six weeks during my third grade year. Six weeks! Then that summer I went with my family on a road trip to visit some of the houses Laura had lived in. I had a blast! Seeing the actual places Laura had described in her books come to life was amazing! Her stories of small prairie towns, riding horses bareback on the open land, of Pa clearing fields in the forest of Wisconsin, all captivated me. I have read her series eight times (maybe more) over the years. The stories still wake a yearning inside of me to live in a land with clean air, unhurried chores, one-room schoolhouses, and close ties with the few neighbors.

Yet I know that her life wasn’t as rosy as Laura Ingalls Wilder painted it. I know that there were many hardships: drought, sickness, no running water, outdoor privies, wildfires, and early frost that could ruin the entire crop. But do those hardships outweigh the 'smell of the soil'?

To me they do not. Life with all of the conveniences of post-industrial revolution America has its drawbacks as well. Global warming, isolation from real relationships, greater difference between the rich and the poor, superficiality, intense competition for the job market and thus higher education, piling up of debt, are all apparent drawbacks of our industrial society that focuses more on quantity than quality, though some quality is assured.

While quality assurance is nice to have, are the items people buy really that high quality? Did someone labor over them for weeks in order to make them the best they could be? Not in today’s world. Products are made by machines, sold to you by shops with clerks who don’t care about you as a person, and then you take the product home and are filled with… nothing. You’re empty inside. Maybe if you knew the manufacturer personally, knew that he or she had labored hard over that new dress or new plow, were given a compliment on your team or your hat, asked how you were doing, how your sick child was doing, maybe then you would be filled with a feeling of gratitude. Maybe you would feel cared about and appreciated. And when you sincerely thanked the person who made the product they would feel valued and rewarded as well.

Life shouldn’t be about having the best car, the biggest house, the stylish clothes, or the perfect family. Life should be about helping each other, growing to be a better person, and really enjoying every second of every day. The manufactured world of today cannot give us an environment where the ideal version of life can be carried out. A small and local agrarian society can.

Globalized practices, products, and corporations serve as a rendezvous for travelers and ultimately result in the localization of the globe. This is because the widespread as well as the local have one key characteristic in common: familiarity. When Forrest McDonald’s statement, "Programmed into the human soul is a preference for the near and familiar and a suspicion of the remote and abstract," is applied to all facets of life, it often holds true.

For example, most people that I have talked to (as well as myself) tend to gravitate towards familiar foods in other countries. After daring to sample an exotic food, people tend to welcome the comfort of their familiar foods. A fellow classmate’s testimonial included the fact that upon returning home, she “went straight to In-n-Out!” I can also testify to the validity of people’s tendency to be pulled to the familiar. After spending about a month in Mexico, eating their food—which by the way their cantaloupe was bland though it was in season! (it’s probably not genetically engineered enough)—I leapt with joy upon spying a Burger King. I normally despise food from Burger King, yet there was a gentle tugging from that odious restaurant that I felt inside. It felt oddly like a respite from a long run, finally having just one lunch there.

With so much of a tug to sameness, should we not fear the “decline of individuality and diversity”? Ironically enough, it can be said that under the pressure to conform, the most wildly colorful people will emerge, struggling even more fiercely than usual for their individuality. Businesses and organizations likewise take shape, attempting to deviate from the prosaic. In every society, there are always those that boast uniqueness and their self-proclaimed title of Revolutionaries. From under every oppressive force, rebels have been born: Separatists fleeing the rule of the Catholic Church in Europe; Patriots (albeit a minority) demanding independence from Great Britain; and more recently, “hippies” in an anti-war movement.

Small towns are regarded highly by some for how “real” they are and their closeness. I personally do not want to undergo an interview every time I’d like to buy some lunch. More often than not, I’ll be going out to lunch because I am there with someone, and therefore do not need to be interrupted by questions about my life. If I really wanted to share a conversation with the waiter/waitress, they’d be the ones I’d be eating lunch with. I really am not an antisocial person, quite the opposite really. However, there is a fine line between giving the respect and kindness that every human being deserves and being—as Spanish-speaking people call it—a metiche. Metiche is a word with the root “meter” which means “to put in.” Someone that puts their nose into your life, prying out as much information as possible at an uncomfortable and annoying level is perfectly summed up with the aforementioned Spanish word. I am perfectly content without building a close relationship with the clerk at the women’s shoe department at Macy’s. I’ll live without his opinion on what a pair of shoes looks like on me. Especially when he asks my mother if I’m eighteen when he thinks I’m out of earshot. Imagine if he happened to be the only sales clerk at the sole shoe store in a small town. Now would you like that tight-knit, homey feeling of a small town? I can’t say I’ll miss him when Macy’s cycles to new employees.

People have the complaint that there is not enough deep interaction with people in the cities. However, even in the most populous and urban of places, connections will inevitably be formed with people. There is no need to worry over disconnection unless you are some sort of socially retarded person (which even in that case, there is always someone that will welcome you.) With so many possible contacts to make, it is possible to familiarize yourself with a large amount of people and then choose which ones would make the most suitable friends. In a small, dead-end society, there is a sort of pre-destined assortment of interaction that is possible.

Despite my tilt to widespread and urban society, I highly value the sprinkling of independent businesses that Ventura has. They add character to Ventura and offer a comforting feeling to me. However, this is because a happy balance has been struck, giving each location a kind, yet not overbearingly involved ambience. I take delight in the warm smile of recognition from a cashier, yet I am not warded off by interrogations. As in everything else in my short and relatively inexperienced life, moderation appears to be the best policy in customer relations and in the structure of a society.

Suspicion is good. Familiar is good. You know what you are getting yourself into. Stay close to the forbidden unknown and you will be on the precipice of confused terror.

There is comfort in the known, but adventure in the unknown. People like to be comforted and protected by those around them; it is a primitive instinct to do so. Why else would buffalo, elephants, birds, monkeys, and all other sorts of animals flock together? For protection from the outside predators. In our case, the predators would not be different animals, but the unknown – the unknown something that might happen, strangers that may have rotten intentions. And yet there are those extremists who love adventure and would do anything to get away from the constricting herd and roam free to converse with others. The first favor small towns with little to no connection outside of their small community as Jefferson envisioned for America. The latter would prefer large cities in which they could meet a variety of people and be connected to the outside world; Hamilton’s vision for the future of America. For me, I think both are necessary and both have their unique opportunities and disadvantages.

When I was young, my brother and I would often talk of many things that sprung into our imaginations. They ranged from building a large swimming pool underneath our house (which our father tricked us into thinking that we were doing and making us dig under the house to make more storage room) to a large underground city built (surprisingly) under our house, to tying a very long rope that ran from our house to the beach and having a handle to hold on to so we could zip down to the beach in a matter of seconds - getting back to do it again was another matter and required a ski lift. But another of these intrigues me now that I see that it was not a completely original idea. We imagined a different way of living which was surprisingly like Jefferson’s vision: we imagined living in a town where we lived in huts and grew our own crops. We would trade our own crops and handmade crafts with those of the small community and not have to worry about the government influencing our life. Another aspect of our imagining was that we would not use money, but that is irrelevant here. I must say it was quite fun to imagine this society that was free from government and ‘silly’ things like taxing and politics, as we thought they were when our parents spoke of the confusing subjects, but it was also quite deep thinking for the age my brother and I were at, for we were restating Jefferson’s romantic vision in our own words. But as I grew older, I realized that it was a nice idea, but not at all effective for a country as large as America. The small communities would grow as their populations expanded.

So now we come to chain businesses: Starbucks, McDonald’s, Barnes & Noble, Wal-Mart, and many others. They seem to grow exponentially and force the smaller businesses out at the same rate. These small businesses, more unique and authentic than the big-name businesses, provide a difference and uniqueness to the town in which they are located and most of the time, from my own observations, are higher quality and have far better service. Locally run events like the Farmer’s Market are competing with Vons and other large businesses as small cafés like Zoés Café are losing customers to Starbucks. For me personally, I would much prefer to walk downtown and buy some groceries at the Farmer’s Market and then go to Zoés Café for a nice hot café mocha on Saturdays than drive to Vons and get the same groceries – not locally grown and most likely not organic, but consistent quality – and then stop by Starbucks and get a café mocha that was not made with the same care as one from Zoés Café. The choice is up to the consumer as to where they get their groceries and coffee and most, looking at how crowded Starbucks and Vons can be compared to the local shops, tend to go towards that which is comfortable to them and towards the known, fearing the unknown.

I love local businesses and yet I love Barnes & Noble as well. It is simple and has a wide variety of books and can quickly stock most any book you ask for (unless it takes weeks, in which case I get very, very angry). I have been to the Barnes & Noble here in Ventura, in Hawaii, and in Tennessee and I found them to be almost identical (but the one in Tennessee was giving away free little cups of mocha Frappuccino which I hunted down but never quite found) with the only exception that the music sections had wider selections in the popular area of that region (my parents are still playing their Hawaiian music CDs and it is very annoying). Comfort and familiarity are also important in the country and can prove to be far more efficient than locally unconnected businesses and can be cheaper to boot.

People do fear the unknown as they do darkness. They cannot see what it is or what the possible outcome of it might be, so they avoid it and go towards that which looks familiar. For me personally, I love the adventure, but I do not want to go all the way towards Jefferson’s severed communities. A little bit of order and connection is needed to run a country, otherwise it would be a pot of soup with far too many exotic spices and not enough potatoes or meat for each person to have a piece in their bowl. I say keep the local businesses because without the spices, the soup would be dull and flavorless and just like any other soup. The most savory and delectable soups are those that are unique and unlike any other you have ever tasted while still having the necessities like meat and potatoes is as each town, city and country should be.

Jefferson really knew what he was talking about when he expressed the importance of small towns and private lives. Neighbors who say hi, who know about your interests and friendly people in the businesses you frequent. As of recently I moved to a small town of about 7,800 residents. I had no idea how much I would like Ojai due to my entire childhood being spent in Ventura with 100,000 people and unfriendly neighbors. Although Ojai is only 30 minutes away from Ventura it is still such a culture shock. In Ventura there are many commercial businesses and franchises. If you look for those in Ojai all you will find is a Vons and a brand new Jersey Mike’s. I will take a sandwich place over any franchise like Mc Donald’s or Pizza Hut. We have the local pizza place, Ojai Pizza that has extremely nice and cute boys working there and the most delicious pizza in the county. We have small restaurants that are all family owned so all of the employees actually practice something unbeknownst to Ventura residents: Customer Service. The attitude that people take in Ojai is slow and calm. I’ve never been behind a car driving around town breaking the speed limit or anywhere close to it. Whenever I go downtown and walk around every single person says hi to me. I actually got into a long conversation with a waiter at the local Italian restaurant, Boccali’s. Ojai is somewhat secluded because there’s only two ways to get in and out. In a secluded area it is nice to be around down to earth people who are just happy the sun is shining. The people in Ventura are more hurried, angry and unpleasant. I love going to the Eggs ‘N Things in Ojai on a Sunday morning and just talking to an elderly couple about how nice it is outside. The small town people are just different.

Chester, California is a very small town in Northern California where I have spent countless lazy summers fishing, swimming and eating. Chester is a town of 2,300, which makes it so quiet and serene. It is right on the shore of Lake Almanor with their three largest restaurants: BJ’s Steakhouse, The Knotbumper and the Kopper Kettle. BJ’s has the best beef ribs I’ve had in my entire life. The owner’s wife actually marinades them overnight in a ketchup, BBQ sauce and Sugar mixture. They are so big they have to be served on two plates with a stack of napkins 10 inches tall. Sometimes Karen, the owner, will personally come over to your table and ask you how the ribs were. With only 12 tables in the entire restaurant it doesn’t take her long to make her rounds. There is no place in Ventura that the owner personally makes the food let alone cares whether you like it or not. About a quarter mile down Main Street is the Knotbumper. My sister and I would walk there just to get a slice of their Carrot Cake. It’s 5 stories tall with shredded carrots and pineapple. The waitresses are all sisters and cousins of the same family. There isn’t one employee there outside of their family. In Ventura there certainly is not a restaurant that makes their cakes from scratch and has an amazing family atmosphere on top of it. Across the street is the best breakfast house in the country: the Kopper Kettle. Their shortstack pancakes are 4 cakes tall and about 8 inches round. They’re bigger than the plate. There’s real game on the walls with moose heads and deer heads even a bear that the owner hunted himself. Where do you see prized personal possessions of the owner of the business in Ventura? Nowhere. Where do you get a tower of pancakes for only $4 in Ventura? Nowhere. The small towns are just different.

Someday I hope to move to Chester where the people know what is important in life: fishing, hunting and Carrot Cake. The calm low maintenance lifestyle would be such a nice change from Ventura and L.A. Going to a big city for college might perhaps be the extent of my exposure to large and congested areas. I’m sure I couldn’t handle the blatant disregard for one another for any extended period of time. Ojai has really shown me a new dimension of life- slower paced and nice people. In Chester I will live the Jeffersonian ideal with one main street and acres and acres of beautiful, raw land. I can hopefully work in the hospital as one of the only doctors in the town. That Jeffersonian lifestyle is for me.

On some occasions, it’s better to buy from a business that is leviathan- like Sports Mart, or Sports Center- because sometimes, they just have better products available and just waiting for you. On the other hand, like “homeslice” said, sometimes the smaller businesses like: Inside Track; are more customer friendly but occasionally lack the pair of shoes you want so you have to wait until the next shipment arrives and come back later which is an inconvenience for some. But where do you think they got their shoes? It’s not like they went home everyday and made all those shoes by hand; they had to get those shoes from somewhere. Who knows, maybe they go out and get shoes from like Sports Chalet or some other store that supports sports gear. So in a way, you would be buying a product made in the same way but with better customer service. But sometimes, in a rural town, the people around you get too friendly and eventually become a little nosey so then everyone in the town knows almost every second of what you are doing.

Most big companies are cheaper in some ways than some of its smaller counterparts. When was the last time the local small business store you shopped at had a: blowout sale, a holiday special, or coupons mailed to your home? Face it, when it comes to cheapness, stores like: Sears, Target, or Best Buy; beat almost all. The only way you could get a good deal without a coupon at a small store is if you were to know the store owner personally like they’re part of your family or you were they best most common customer.

I, personally have experience with this. In Orange County, which is in fact, the second most populated county by Vietnamese besides Vietnam itself, there is a store called Pho Cali and my parents and we occasionally get some free baked goods or other things. The only reason why we get such a special treatment, is because we go there almost every weekend when we visit our family so we are one of their most common customers. If they were a big chain restaurant or department store, we would most likely be treated like any other customer visiting.

So for small businesses, they have to advantage of securing a number of customers to keep them alive. For example, Inside Track, has the cross country and track team from Buena and Ventura who regularly flock there for their affordable gear and I bet most parents there know the manager pretty well because of their common visits. If Inside Track had sold their stock more expensive, then I bet that there would be less people buying from there than there are now.

Small businesses have the luxury of knowing their customers and having an assured sale. Giant businesses don’t have that much of a luxury because they are so big and since their customers might find somewhere better, they have to compete with other companies and sometimes even buy them out just to get rid of them and increase their size even more. Small businesses along with gargantuan ones have their up sides and down sides. For me, I wouldn’t really mind whichever one as long as it’s cheaper so I could survive in a rural, an urban, anywhere. Just give me a head start and I'm on my way!