A Yearning For The Hearth

Here are some clear signs that I’m south of the boarder:

- Michigan is in an economic depression, but there’s still money here. It’s not what tough times looked like out west.

- There’s a public debate going on about raising the state sales tax. Debate? Vote? Aren’t sales taxes those things that get sprung on you two years after an election without any public consultation whatsoever?

- There’s another debate going on about whether public school teachers should be carrying guns at school. Yeah, you read that right.

- I saw an opossum last week.

- Lots of places don’t take debit so I have ‘cash’ in my wallet and am plagued by ‘change’ jingleing in my pocket.

- It’s not as secular here, at least not in Grand Rapids

On September 11, 2001 I was in my morning class at Providence. I remember how surreal it all felt, and how irrelevent and trivial everything seemed. I remember one of the Prof’s saying “This was Osama Bin Laden,” it was a name I’d heard, but knew nothing about. I also remember thinking to myself that it was important that as a society, we not allow ourselves to respond with hatred, that if we did we would have given the terrorists exactly what they wanted.

 I wrongly predicted that the attack would percipitate a new era of American isolationism.  Instead, America chose a different path. I understand why, but I’m amazed at how things have worked out. 

I’m writing this in my second week in Grand Rapids, MI. My wife and I are here for one semester, and then we’re off to Dublin, Ireland for about two years. She’s a mathematician, and I’m an aspiring theologian, and all our plans are, of course, subject to the fates.

It’s my first time living outside of Canada. So far, the city seems like a great place to live. I’m an alien in a foreign land, but it’s not such a foreign one, really.   There are some differences though. The most obvious seems to be the number and variety of restaurants. I’m only a short distance from Canada, but I’ve never heard of most of the restaurants that are here, and they’re obviously well established chains. Not a lot of independent restaurants/stores here at all actually. I think corporate is the name of the game.

There are other differences I’ve noticed as well. Grand Rapids is super-Christian, and this contrasts sharply with most of Canada. I guess it’s a bit like a huge Steinbach Manitoba, although it’s not nearly as strait-laced, which suits me fine actually. The analogy works for Calvin College as well I suppose, a much larger and less conservative Providence College.

Calvin however is much better integrated into the milieu of greater American culture than any Christian institution in Canada. It offers degrees in Engineering and Nursing and these degrees are recognized by other schools and the governing bodies of these professions. Compare that to the experience of Canadians trying to get credit for their courses from Christian colleges.

On the whole the people of Grand Rapids have been very good to us, and though this stint in Grand Rapids will only be for four months, I think it will serve to endear the place to us, and make leaving Dublin a little easier.