Wendell Berry before settling down in his placeHristo Botev wrote: ↑Tue Dec 01, 2020 3:47 pmHere's where I'm starting to go (and this is NOT directed at you, to be clear; it's directed at ME): I think from a society perspective there's something wrong about a society that encourages people to relocate to a new city/town "for work" (or, for that matter, for advanced degrees); it's a job/career-centric mindset as opposed to a mindset that is more centered on family/place/community. Maybe that's something COVID might have a lasting impact on, if people really do start moving less for work because jobs are less location-specific. But, even pre-covid, I can say DW and I have moved around A LOT for education/experiences/jobs over the past 20+ years, and for what? As much "success" as we've had in our respective careers, we're both burnt out at middle age, and we'd likely be living just as well/comfortably (or likely better) had we never left our hometown, aided by the fact that we've got a community there (we have one where we're at now, as well, but we had to work real hard to create it), AND, we "know and understand" the land and its history. And all those years in all those different places we spent building up little disparate communities were years we weren't focusing on maintaining and strengthening older community links and family ties.
I know it's all very Wendell Berry of me to say--except he says it much, much better than I do--but there's a more "spiritual" aspect here that's important when you're talking about your connection to "the land"; and, for one, it's hard to know "the land" when you've got different land under your feet every few years, the way DW and I did for the first 15years or so of our adult lives.
I guess what I'm trying to say is that I suspect transience has a big environmental impact that we don't really factor in as much as we should.
Was educated at UK (university Kentucky) for undergrad and masters;
Attended prestigious training at Stanford - then had a fellowship to Italy and France - then taught at NYU - then went back to teach at UK - then moved to his home
Amongst those with a good education and training, I wonder how much of it is fetishizing living in a ‘place’ for your whole life. Berry writes well. It may have something to do with his international training.
Good lawyers also move around before settling down.