Ithaca, Shmitha

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And I'll admit it embarrasses me a little that so many people here wear tie-dye shirts and funny hats, some wear humorless expressions and attend piss-in-the-wind protests, and some are consumed by their search for inner growth and personal fulfillment. The young ones are nice to have around, but the ones who are on the far side of 30 are troubling. They go from one relationship to the next, dragging their children behind them. They have skills, but can't hold a job. They are Lost Boys and Girls, and Ithaca is their Never-Never Land.

I do have some sympathy for my old hippie friends, because some of the new things showing up in Ithaca aren't pretty. Pointing out the old ways is a sure sign that you're turning into an old crab, but sometime's you've got to do it. Last week, I was nearly sideswiped by a speeding college boy with a buzz cut, driving a brand-new truck -- a Range Rover! -- with a bumper sticker that said 'Mean People Suck.' He never looked back as he recklessly swept through a busy intersection just before the light turned red, talking on a cellular phone the whole time, leaving me fuming and feeling thoroughly puny. Get a cop and arrest that kid before he hurts someone! We have traffic laws for a reason, you know!

Still, I can't help but say Ithaca is a wonderful place to live. Pointing out the shortcomings may be my favorite local sport but when I've leave town for a few days, I'm always grateful to be back. In fact, the tensions and contradictions I complain about is one of the things I love most about living here. Walk into the State Diner in the middle of the night, and you're likely to see an old geezer smoking cigarettes and drinking black coffee, a dapper-looking police officer, two guys in suits talking real estate, and a graduate student reading Pushkin. Any of them would be happy to chat about what's been going on around town? How can you beat that?

Brad Edmondson is editor of Forecast and senior writer for American Demographics, which are based in Ithaca.

Part of cover story section, June/July 1997.

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