The first impressions
I am five days into the Stanford Sierra Conference Center experience and I am feeling good about being here. So much has happened in the last five days that if I were to go into detail it would be too much and you would stop reading this blog and go do something more interesting like eat cereal.
So let me sum up at least some about the people that are here with me.
I got here Tuesday. I have no cell service and no idea what I'm doing, but I'm excited and as soon as I meet everyone I want to instantly be their close friend and share in their inside jokes. I want to know their stories. Why are they here? How is it that you left whatever it was that you were doing last week to be here in the mountains, working for little money for only two and a half months? Where did you come from? Where are you going? Yes, there are many people here who have made a lifestyle out of being here. We are not all newbies. A large group of people come and go- they'll work a season then run off and do something else nomadic, adventurous.
One thing that I've noticed that makes this place different from many other environments that I've been a part of is that these travellers are young, educated, involved, interested in knowing more about the world at large. Most all of them in their twenties. They have a name for themselves, "seasonal workers." They are a subculture. They are a group of transient, introspective, quasi-responsible individuals who come from all over the country to work full time for a short period of time and then move on to the next thing that catches their eye. They avoid careers. We are experiencing. We are escaping. We are all escaping something.
The thing that I'm (pleasantly) surprised about is that although these people are young and living in a "seasonal worker" bubble, they care about greater things. Most of them have graduated college, some with masters degrees. Everyone who hasn't graduated has tentative plans to go back. They have been to Stanford, Vanderbilt, Reed College, Dartmouth... They like to read the Times in the morning. One girl wrote her college thesis on 19th century photography in Peru. They have been to Peru, Costa Rica, Bolivia, Malaysia, Cambodia, Egypt, Ireland within the last year. They like music- really excellent music. They write their own music. They like to drink dark beers I've never heard of like Downtown Brown and Eye of the Hawk. They like to have fun- I mean outrageous, out of the blue, overnight-camp-as a middle-schooler fun. They dress up in costumes and sing random songs in the middle of the dining room. They jump into a lake that's barely 50 degrees in the middle of night. They sail boats. They hike. They sleep outside in the wilderness overnight. They play ultimate frisbee and rugby on club teams. They vote.
The reason I say all this is simply to explain that these people are not here because they are not capable of being outstanding members of society, who get married, hold good jobs, and pay taxes. I tell you this to explain to you that these people (most of them really quite exceptional) have all taken a step back from that runaway course of life. They are not anxious about "settling down." They are eager to see the world and learn about it through experience. And they know that if needed at any point in time they could get their well-paying job and that would be that. But it is not that season yet.
I feel very much in place here among these people. Not because my experiences are like theirs, but because they are capable of understanding me and this time in my life more than most. I am curious to go beyond this first week of cursory impressions. I am interested to see what motivates these unique individuals, and hopefully that will help me identify my motivations for being in this place.
So let me sum up at least some about the people that are here with me.
I got here Tuesday. I have no cell service and no idea what I'm doing, but I'm excited and as soon as I meet everyone I want to instantly be their close friend and share in their inside jokes. I want to know their stories. Why are they here? How is it that you left whatever it was that you were doing last week to be here in the mountains, working for little money for only two and a half months? Where did you come from? Where are you going? Yes, there are many people here who have made a lifestyle out of being here. We are not all newbies. A large group of people come and go- they'll work a season then run off and do something else nomadic, adventurous.
One thing that I've noticed that makes this place different from many other environments that I've been a part of is that these travellers are young, educated, involved, interested in knowing more about the world at large. Most all of them in their twenties. They have a name for themselves, "seasonal workers." They are a subculture. They are a group of transient, introspective, quasi-responsible individuals who come from all over the country to work full time for a short period of time and then move on to the next thing that catches their eye. They avoid careers. We are experiencing. We are escaping. We are all escaping something.
The thing that I'm (pleasantly) surprised about is that although these people are young and living in a "seasonal worker" bubble, they care about greater things. Most of them have graduated college, some with masters degrees. Everyone who hasn't graduated has tentative plans to go back. They have been to Stanford, Vanderbilt, Reed College, Dartmouth... They like to read the Times in the morning. One girl wrote her college thesis on 19th century photography in Peru. They have been to Peru, Costa Rica, Bolivia, Malaysia, Cambodia, Egypt, Ireland within the last year. They like music- really excellent music. They write their own music. They like to drink dark beers I've never heard of like Downtown Brown and Eye of the Hawk. They like to have fun- I mean outrageous, out of the blue, overnight-camp-as a middle-schooler fun. They dress up in costumes and sing random songs in the middle of the dining room. They jump into a lake that's barely 50 degrees in the middle of night. They sail boats. They hike. They sleep outside in the wilderness overnight. They play ultimate frisbee and rugby on club teams. They vote.
The reason I say all this is simply to explain that these people are not here because they are not capable of being outstanding members of society, who get married, hold good jobs, and pay taxes. I tell you this to explain to you that these people (most of them really quite exceptional) have all taken a step back from that runaway course of life. They are not anxious about "settling down." They are eager to see the world and learn about it through experience. And they know that if needed at any point in time they could get their well-paying job and that would be that. But it is not that season yet.
I feel very much in place here among these people. Not because my experiences are like theirs, but because they are capable of understanding me and this time in my life more than most. I am curious to go beyond this first week of cursory impressions. I am interested to see what motivates these unique individuals, and hopefully that will help me identify my motivations for being in this place.
posted by j kelly @ 9:48 PM
3 comments
