Little Rock- A Microcosm of Everywhere Else!
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3/28/2007
Little Rock has something for everyone! If you are a conservative, liberal, artist, eccentric, radical religious right-er or farmer...you will find your kind in Little Rock. With less than 2,000 people, it is a diverse 2,000! Little Rock central (Heights/Hillcrest/Foxcroft/Robinwood) is so small that it's like a high school. You know everyone, they know you, and everyone is jockeying for alpha status.
However, as you head west into Chenal, you have a certain anonymity. A good portion of these people are transplanted from elsewhere, and they don't care who you are, where you live, or who you know.
Little Rock is big enough we enjoy the things people in big cities are doing- and thanks to the internet we are only about 10 months behind everyone else.
Yet, Little Rock is small enough you don't contend with horrible traffic, endless lines, pollution or too much stimulation.
Little Rock can become a little repetitive. You find your core group of friends, go to your favorite restaurants, favorite stores and that is that. But how many people in more exciting cities venture beyond their established footpath anyways? My loop includes going to the Little Rock Racquet Club for pilates and swimming, eating dinner at Cheeburger, Cheeburger or 1620. I go to Target, and Walmart out Highway 10. I shop at Kroger, go to
Salon Nouveau (go see Joey!), and back home.
About once a month I drive to Little Rock Airport, consult Southwest Airlines 'Ding' service, and jet to a new and unusual city for around $200 round trip. Miami, Charleston, Austin, Houston, St. Louis....are fun, fun, fun- but when I'm done I yearn for the simplicity and ease of living I have in Little Rock.
Being from Colorado, living in Texas, and moving to Arkansas has provided me with a diversity of experiences. I had an opportunity to move to Austin last year. After a seven day visit I was jonesin' to get back home to my Little Rock. Traffic was horrendous, and although it is an amazing place to call home- Little Rock is like Austin was 25 years ago!
Anyways, Little Rock has natural and undeveloped beauty; a strong economy, is relatively inaccessible (getting here from anywhere is challenging), and has everything to make it one of the hippest southern towns out there. Our schools are another issue, but if you can afford to pay for the myriad of private schools here- you will have the best of all worlds.
exie | Little Rock, AR