San Francisco The Front Porch
The city by the bay has always been a place form coming and going. Historically it was the gateway to the west with its grand GoldenGate Bridge beckoning travelers inside like the welcome matt you read as you enter the house. The scenery of The City with its towering buildings, stringed and ornate bridges, and relaxing piers and ports reminds me of a big southern home with a large front patio that calls for me to step under its over-hang and relax in a rocking chair behind the fence and support beams that hold up the second floor.
Along with being the point of embarkment for America, San Francisco is also the place of constant coming and going. I've never been to a city more transient than SF. Immigrants come and go, natives enter for a time to work, and tourists just come to see the bridges, cable cars, and liberalism. San Francisco is in affect is like one big porch that welcomes travelers with romantic history and dramatic scenery but lacks the homeliness of the other parts of a house making it a city of visitors not inhabitants.
Seattle The Study
Few cities posses the coziness that Seattle does. At least that I've been to. Seattle is a town filled with spaces to sit, read, think, and avoid the rain. Coffee shops have made this city famous, but behind the caffeine veil is one the most intellectual cities in America. Over fifty-one percent of residents in the Emerald City have bachelors degrees ranking it the mosteducated major city in the States. Every time I visit this northwestern city I'm so captivated by the bays, bridges, mountains, vegetation, sky, and skyscrapers that I long to sit in a coffee house and ponder the mysteries of humanity while wearing a warm sweatshirt and drinking a mocha. Seattle is the study of my house beckoning me to learn, question, and create.
Berkeley The Kitchen
Every house has a kitchen, a place where ingredients, flavors, and smells mix together. Each recipe is a unique combination of different elements that create an appealing edible masterpiece. Berkeley is the epitome of cultural meshing and mixing. A walk down Telegraph will fill your senses with hundreds of dialects, a tidal wave of different cooking aromas, and a near-uncomfortable level of different ideals. For me Berkley has it all; ethic food, American food, cheap food, not-so-cheap food, great coffee (Peet's), and more than enough restaurants to keep you busy for years. Berkley feels like a comfortable kitchen from which to retrieve a wide range of food and culture. If my house was made up of cities, Berkley would be my kitchen.
The Tri-Valley My Bedroom
For most people their bedroom is a personal sanctuary. Its the space they can not only decorate and make their own, but also it's a space where they can get away from it all. Growing up my rooms have always been a space to reminded me of the events in my life that made me who I am. The Tri-Valley is the place I grew up and the place where I currently rest my head. This humble abode is where the most significant events in my life have shaped and formed me. Its where I met Jesus, where I graduated high-school, where I met most of my close friends, where I hit my first home run in little league, where I learned to play guitar, where I grew close with my family, and where most every other important detail of my live has occurred. The Tri-Valley is like a bedroom that I have personally decorated and adorned with a wealth of stories and friendships. Whenever I go out for coffee or a movie I see friendly faces and recognizable scenery that remind me of meaningful occurrences. The Valley is familiar and comfortable like the first steps taken into a welcoming bedroom after a long and stressful day.
Los Angeles The Family Room
In our culture entertainment seems to be a priority when designing a house. Its almost as if a home is not complete without a sweet entertainment center. If the rooms in my house were made up of cities Los Angeles would undoubtedly be my family room. LA is the home of Hollywood, Disneyland, Universal Studious, Santa Monica, the OC, Huntington Beach, USC, and countless other entertainment options that I have frequented in my lifetime. Family rooms are often the escape-from-reality room of the house. It's in the family room that you can relax, kick back on your lazy boy, forget about the worries of the world and watch a movie with friends. Just like the family room, Los Angeles is the escape-from-reality city.
Everything is facade in LA; the water is shipped in, the palm trees are transplanted, the Chinese food is American (PF Changs), the movies fictional, the people plastic or photoshopped, the theme parks designed and imagined, and the beaches swept clean. I'm not saying LA is evil I'm just describing the reality of the city, that the point of LA is to escape reality by creating a refuge of the perfect west-coast lifestyle. To me the family room is the place to go to get away from it all and if there was one city that had the identical function in my life it would be Los Angeles.
Oakland The garage
If San Francisco is the front porch of the Bay, Oakland is the garage filled with useful but not-so-glamorous buildings and structures. This East Bay metropolis does have it's scenic spots, but for the most part its filled with buildings and neighborhoods designed for industry and practicality not beauty. Oakland is home to the fourth busiest port in America as well as countless other where house based business. Its also home to the Oakland A's, Golden State Warriors, and the Oakland Raiders making it a frequented city for sports fans with a taste for hard-nosed, low cost play. The walk over the cement bridge from Coliseum BART to the Oakland Coliseum is surrounded by aging low-income housing, polluted rivers, barbed wire fencing, abandoned auto lots, and plenty of concrete structures. Oakland reminds me of a garage that the man of the house disappears to when he needs to lift some weights, drink a beer, and listen to the game. Its not a pretty city but its got personality. If Oakland was a room in my house it would absolutely be the garage filled with useful tools, car parts, a weight set, and some professional sports posters.
Yangon, Myanmar Siblings Bedroom
Growing up the one room that was off limits was my sister's room. To me her bedroom seemed like some foreign land I knew little about. What's so interesting is that my sister has impacted my life tremendously, but I didn't know much about her growing up. Sometimes I would sneak in her room while she wasn't home and stand in awe of the bizarre objects that decorated her shelves and walls. Just like my big sisters room was off limits, foreign, and yet incredibly important to me, the city of Yangon, Myanmar is legally restricted, culturally opposite, and crucially meaningful to me. Myanmar is a Buddhist nation that has taken legislative action against my fellow Christian brothers and sisters. Over the past five years I've been privileged to explore this interesting nation and meet some amazing native church leaders. We've connected our church in America to theirs and offer our support as best as we can. As a result my experiences in Myanmar, I have changed as a person tremendously. I find my mind constantly occupied with latest news from Yangon, the capital city, as I eagerly await the time when I get to see my family again. To me Yangon is like my sisters bedroom, it's foreign and off limits but still incredibly close like only family members can be.
So thats my house in cities. From time to time I may add another room or alternate cities depending on their significance at that moment. Whatever city I am in I love exploring it and becoming increasingly aware of it's uniqueness. It makes me appreciate the world and notice details about places I often take for granted. How about you? If your house was made up of cities which city would be your kitchen, your bedroom, your family room and why? What rooms would you add? Make the world your home and explore!
