I live in Clovis, CA. Clovis is a suburb of Fresno. Oh, I know. How does a place like Fresno have a suburb? Well, for those of you who might have happened upon this silly little shrine to self-indulgence who don't actually KNOW Fresno, it's not as bad as they make it sound.
Over the next whatever span of time, I'm planning on doing some research on the Fresno/Clovis area. I don't know a whole lot, but I do know that I like it here. It's a little more conservative than I like, but people aren't rude about it. It gets a little too hot in the summer and the hot lasts a little too long, but there are mountains nearby on one side, and an ocean sort of nearby on the other to cool us off.
We are a community of extremes - the northside is rich, the southside is poor. The old folks want to build a wall along the Mexican border, the young folks ditch school to protest anti-Mexican legislation. We depend on our mountain snowpack to provide us with water through our 110 degree summers. We are the breadbasket of the west, but our per capita homeless and hungry is downright shameful. Fresno has some of the worst schools in the nation, Clovis has some of the best. Like any community, we have some of the nicest people you'll ever meet, and some, well, not so much.
I lived in Clovis during my senior year in high school - went to Clovis High, when their only rival was Clovis West (now there are Buchanan, Clovis East, and Clovis North). That's when Old Town was just....... Town. After graduation, I moved back to Orange County (waaaaaaaaaaaay before it was The OC - what a load). In 1993, I moved to Texas. I lived in various places around the Dallas/Ft. Worth area for 10 years. I bring that up because when I moved from Texas to Clovis, the first thing I noticed was that except for the lack of humidity, I had landed myself right back into Texas. Same politics, same religious fervor, same love for pick-up trucks, same music, same past-times, same frames of mind. In short, everything that I might have missed about Texas, was already here when I arrived.
I decided to write this blog because I am proud of this community. There are things I would change if I could, of course, but generally speaking, I love it here. I love how people who seem to be so different see nothing odd about standing together for things that matter to them. I love the blossoms in the springtime, and dancing at the Farmers' Market in the summertime, and the lights along 5th Street at Christmastime. I love driving by the horses and cows on Bullard, and the 1900's "highrises" in downtown. I love seeing high school football and minor league baseball on the evening news. I even love seeing how my daughter doesn't like it here because there's nothing to do, because I know that that very thing is what will draw her back someday. I love it here.
I need to figure out how to make the darn picture loader work - I plan on writing about and displaying my hometown. I believe that the best and worst of what comprises America can be found right here, and I plan on showing it to the world - well, to anybody who has nothing better to do than to read it, that is.
Over the next whatever span of time, I'm planning on doing some research on the Fresno/Clovis area. I don't know a whole lot, but I do know that I like it here. It's a little more conservative than I like, but people aren't rude about it. It gets a little too hot in the summer and the hot lasts a little too long, but there are mountains nearby on one side, and an ocean sort of nearby on the other to cool us off.
We are a community of extremes - the northside is rich, the southside is poor. The old folks want to build a wall along the Mexican border, the young folks ditch school to protest anti-Mexican legislation. We depend on our mountain snowpack to provide us with water through our 110 degree summers. We are the breadbasket of the west, but our per capita homeless and hungry is downright shameful. Fresno has some of the worst schools in the nation, Clovis has some of the best. Like any community, we have some of the nicest people you'll ever meet, and some, well, not so much.
I lived in Clovis during my senior year in high school - went to Clovis High, when their only rival was Clovis West (now there are Buchanan, Clovis East, and Clovis North). That's when Old Town was just....... Town. After graduation, I moved back to Orange County (waaaaaaaaaaaay before it was The OC - what a load). In 1993, I moved to Texas. I lived in various places around the Dallas/Ft. Worth area for 10 years. I bring that up because when I moved from Texas to Clovis, the first thing I noticed was that except for the lack of humidity, I had landed myself right back into Texas. Same politics, same religious fervor, same love for pick-up trucks, same music, same past-times, same frames of mind. In short, everything that I might have missed about Texas, was already here when I arrived.
I decided to write this blog because I am proud of this community. There are things I would change if I could, of course, but generally speaking, I love it here. I love how people who seem to be so different see nothing odd about standing together for things that matter to them. I love the blossoms in the springtime, and dancing at the Farmers' Market in the summertime, and the lights along 5th Street at Christmastime. I love driving by the horses and cows on Bullard, and the 1900's "highrises" in downtown. I love seeing high school football and minor league baseball on the evening news. I even love seeing how my daughter doesn't like it here because there's nothing to do, because I know that that very thing is what will draw her back someday. I love it here.
I need to figure out how to make the darn picture loader work - I plan on writing about and displaying my hometown. I believe that the best and worst of what comprises America can be found right here, and I plan on showing it to the world - well, to anybody who has nothing better to do than to read it, that is.
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