"Six degrees of separation"

Recently I've seemed to struggle with Identity. I've noticed that the larger the role my past plays in to who I am becoming, the portrayal of that impact seems be smaller in my everyday interactions. This is due in part to two related issues, one being geographical restrictions, and the other being a lack of relevance that has become the reality of living 1,200 miles away from my hometown.

In my opinion one of the greatest parts of human existence is the idea that we are all in this wild experience together. In a world where voice carries thousands of miles through floating objects in space and 190,000 pound metal structures can propel you across the continental United States in four hours, it is still the little things like human interaction that seem the most abstract and unexplainable to me.


I've touched in previous posts about the lack of connection in brief conversation, and I find that lies mostly in the substance of said conversations. However, I find the idea of coexistence miraculous enough that it always seems to serve as a tremendous feel of commonality despite the vast differences between my makeup and that of the lunch lines most recent co inhibitor. But it's a connection nonetheless, something that we have in common despite his upbringing in South Texas and mine in the Northeast.

Due to the nature of my upbringing in New Hampshire I always found a different connection with those of my fellow New Englanders. The idea of "six degrees of separation" is more like one degree of separation in New England; if you talk for long enough you will find a matching piece in the puzzle that makes up the face in front of you; he went to my Cousins high school, she lost to my hometown in her high school soccer championship, we went to grade school together. When I find that connection, our individual upbringings always seem that much more significant due to the relativity of our experiences. So the conversation naturally progresses to, "yeah, I lived on Tonga Drive, like 5 miles from the High School" and, "I used to ride bikes by your road!". In these connections Bow, New Hampshire serves as a much more stable foundation to the building blocks that will ultimately make up our relationship.


This lack of connection has made for difficult and largely unfamiliar interaction here in South Carolina. Because of these differences, my own upbringing seems to play a smaller and smaller role in the initial connection between myself and my fellow patrons tonight. Tonga Drive in Bow, New Hampshire has become New England. Where in New England you ask? New Hampshire. Where in New Hampshire? Bow, a small town outside of Concord. Although my upbringing plays a bigger role than anything else in both the reality and possibilities of this conversation, the lack of commonality in our upbringings prevents these significances from becoming immediately apparent.

I find this particularly ironic, seeing as I have recently found my upbringing playing a more and more significant role in my personal day to day life. As I have previously drawn upon, where I've been is a major part of who I am. Every second of my life thus far has contributed to who I am now. So I guess what I'm trying to say is, as I move further away my past seems to play a smaller roll in these brief interactions; however the deep conversation remains largely influenced by a Youth in Bow New, Hampshire, an adolescence in Oneonta NY, and professional lives in Boston and Rhode Island. It is these individual experiences that help to blossom random interaction from merely coexistence to communal experience.

Speaking of these influences, I encourage any and all readers to check out my fellow family bloggers! My Cousin Sarah has started a great blog detailing her adventures in her new home of Charlotte, NC. Her blog can be viewed at www.sarinthecity.wordpress.com. Like myself, Sarah's muses also seem to arrive in Red Sox hats and Patriot's shirts smuggled in North Face jackets. Also, my brother Ryan, also known as Chainsaw Bonesaw, has created a very intriguing blog on his experiences as he adapts to life as a foreigner in London, England. www.ryangoesglobal.blogspot.com is always good for a laugh and some great insight.

I apologize for the randomness of today's rant, but as always, I appreciate those following. Hopefully you're picking up a little of what I'm putting down.