Shakin it up

As your view of local changes depending on where you are, I have mainly been writing this blog about locality in Tuscaloosa. But I thought today I would blog about my hometown, Harrisburg, IL. There was an earthquake(get the blog title, Shakin it up??) there Friday and it made me think of how I haven't explored the local side of back home yet. When I left in August to come to Tuscaloosa, I couldn't have been happier to get away. I had been stuck in the middle of corn fields for 18 years, and I needed a change of view. Harrisburg is a small farm town of about 10,000 people stuck in the Southeastern corner of Illinois. Farming and coal mines are a way of life. A majority of people stay close to home after high school and go to the local junior college in town or head down the road 45 minutes to SIU, the closest university. It's one of those towns that you say you will never live in again after you get done with college, but most people always end up right back where they started. Until I moved away to go to college, I never realized how little to do there is in Harrisburg. I really don't know how I made it so long without dying of boredom. But one thing Harrisburg does have is a multitude of family owned and operated restaurants. Once I came to Tuscaloosa, I realized that I always took these places for granted. But now that I haven't been home in awhile, these are the places I want to go to 1st when I get back home for summer break. And I'm sure that after a month or so of living back in Harrisburg this summer I will want to get out of there again. But it really is home. It's where all my family lives, all my friends live, and I have made some great memories. As much as I hate it for being so small and boring sometimes, it really is home sweet home.