| Granted that many things are available through computers, phones, and such, nevertheless, physical isolation is, to some degree, isolating in other respects. Living in the Washington area,even when in Annapolis, I saw numerous exhibitions at the National Gallery, Phillips Collection, and Baltimore Museum, the Museum of Modern Art (in New York), the Guggenheim, and other museums. I saw various shows in Washington and New York, for example, the orginal cast of "Rent", or the revival of "Godspell". I attended lectures and live interviews with Stephen Hawking, Andrew Lloyd Webber, and other notable persons. I have argued with Robert Bork, chatted with Charles Murray, met Henry Hyde, had dinner with Hilton Kramer, talked to William Kristol a couple of times, and met Margaret Thatcher, among others, at various conservative gatherings. My brother with cerebral palsy hangs out at the Capitol somewhat, and has been friendly with people like Alan Simpson, and knew the guards shot a couple of years ago. My wife, as an association executive, has been to breakfast meetings with the mayor of Washington and a couple of Congressman. Additionally, there is an abundance of choices of movie theaters, restaurants, monuments and museums, historical sites, and other points of interest in the Washington area. When we lived in Annapolis, I was only about an hour from the National Zoo, in decent traffic. Now I am about 20 minutes from it. Additionally, there is plenty of countryside, and, if I get the hankering, there are a bunch of municipal, state, and federal parks. Even in terms of bookstores: there are so many, including specialty stores, that I have been able to find things that are fairly off the beaten path, after some phone calls. Also, there are a lot of immigrants where I live, most of them middle class in this particular area, and it adds some interest, as well as guaranteeing a number of specialty restaurants and groceries. So,in general, being within a good metro area, and especially someplace like Washington, with world class museums and a good situation in respect of other major cities (New York is a 5 or 6 hour drive, a 4 hour train ride, and a half hour flight), is to be culturally connected to a great degree...... |
