Native non native

Having moved around a lot I think a lot about what it means to be "from" some place. When we are in Montana, I still feel like it is "home" and that somehow it is a part of me and I am a part of it. What is ironic is that I often find myself in Bozeman or driving past million dollar homes and I think, "These people don't really get Montana." Then I'm faced with the question, but what if the place has changed and I just didn't change with it.

In Seattle it seemed like we were natives right away. Nobody was from Seattle so we all helped each other create a culture. In North Dakota, we could have lived their ten more years and people would still have introduced us as newcomers. In Minnesota, we are somewhere in the middle.

What brought these thoughts to mind this morning was an article in the NY Times on the artistic revival in Butte, Montana. It sounds like the Butte I know, but it also definetely sounds like it is changing. I remember in college being in some of the houses that the article talks about when they were pseudo dorms for Tech students where 8 people could live together for $75 a month. No that was not in the 60's - it was in the 90's.