Thoughts on Santa Fe

It seems that, to some, Santa Fe has some bizarre hypnotic quality to it. People come here, and don't ever leave.

To a certain extent I understand. The view as I walk down the stairs to class every morning is something that people travel cross-country to see. The sunsets are, on average, breathtaking. The weather is pretty decent, provided you like lots of sunshine and very little humidity. People here are pretty friendly.

But there are huge drawbacks, too. For such a small town Santa Fe is absurdly expensive. It's big and poorly-laid-out, a prime example of suburban sprawl. The demographics are staggeringly bizarre: at times it seems this place is equal parts "fairly poor people" (including huge numbers of homeless people) and "rather wealthy old retirees". And unless you're into huge quantities of generally unremarkable art galleries, there's not a whole lot to do here. Maybe that's why so many artsy types migrate here: there's natural beauty but not much to distract you from it.

Then there are the weird people, and I'm thoroughly convinced that Santa Fe has more weirdos per capita than most American cities, other than maybe New York and LA (and the state of Florida; they're all crazy down there). There's about a half-dozen health-food stores in Santa Fe. Looking at the back page ads of the local alt-weekly is like a trip into La-La Land. Want your aura read? Your chakras realigned? Want to study under three different self-declared meditation gurus? Interested in Buddhism, white-man style? Curious about finding your inner spirit? Looking to co-opt any number of Eastern cultural traditions under the guise of "self-development"? Santa Fe is the place for you!

It was weird when I came out here the first time, because there's a highly noticeable difference between Philly and Santa Fe (more mountains here; "fuck you" is not considered a polite greeting out west). But coming back here after living in London is just...bizarre. I know that Santa Fe has not changed notably in my absence, so obviously it's my perspective. Now Santa Fe feels very much to me like a rebellious teenager. "I don't wanna be mainstream!" shouted, with a stomp of the foot. It's almost as if the vast majority of people in this town are trying too hard to be "The city different", and way overshooting, ending up in a land where everyone, apparently, wants their spirit read by a white woman who's actually from Michigan.