Not All Who Wander Are Lost

Despite my southern sensibility to overlook certain historic industrial cities as travel destinations, I’ve recently been pleasantly surprised by Pittsburgh. The main reason for my domestic adventure was a visit to a dear friend, Hannah, from my Asia days. (A local who is also a friend makes the best tour guide.) I didn’t know what to expect from this new city. Really, I had hardly any background knowledge beyond the fact that Pittsburgh’s professional football team, the Steelers, had just lost the super bowl. So I touched down on a frigid afternoon for a weekend ready to learn as much as I could about the self-proclaimed birthplace of pop culture. These are a few things I found out…

1. Fanatics! Pittsburghers are obsessed with their sports teams. I’ve lived in cities preoccupied with sports before. Example: it doesn’t take long to realize that Denver loves the Broncos and New York is schizophrenic over the Yankees and Mets. But Pittsburgh doesn’t narrow it to one sport. Of course there is the aforementioned NFL Steelers, but they also love the NHL Penguins and MLB Pirates. As Hannah and I ate steak and cheese sandwiches covered with coleslaw and French fries, specialty at the “almost famous Primanti Brothers” restaurant, she explained that the Pittsburgh sports teams feel more like the divisions of a college athletic program than separate franchises. Their shared color schemes and close stadiums give the city a college-town atmosphere. And anyone familiar with the Terrible Towel tradition’s history realizes that it doesn’t take much to rally the fans.

2. There is a rich art culture in Pittsburgh. Home to Carnegie Mellon University, renown for its music and drama department, this shouldn’t really be a surprise. Yet I had no idea of the growing popularity of the city with up and coming artists. The city itself boasts many music halls, theaters, and museums, some also bearing the name Carnegie. I got to see the play Camelot at the Pittsburgh Public Theater. A wonderfully small, intimate venue that gives you the feeling of being front and center of the action. Not a bad seat in the house. Sadly, the weekend was too full of other fun activities to allow for a leisurely stroll through any museums. There are several worth visiting. However, Hannah and I did take a self-guided tour of CMU’s campus and very much enjoyed wandering the halls of the Parnell Center (home to the college of fine art), casually peeking into art studios and observing various projects in process.

3. Pittsburgh is reinventing itself. My preconceived image of a blue collar, factory city was accurate…fifty years ago. The city today is rapidly changing. The old factories are being reinvented and turned into shopping/dining areas. For one plaza the only lingering reminders of the past are several old brick smoke stacks left intact as a testimony to what had been. Also with the decline of the steel industry, Pittsburgh has reinvented the core of its economy. It used to revolve around steel and iron however, now its biomedical and computer sciences. Technology rules Pittsburgh now. This is perhaps the most interesting part of the city, the ability to reinvent old buildings, embrace the growth of a whole new industry, and welcome a large population of the world’s college students.

Pittsburgh is a city that has had its identity challenged but not lost. Taking what was in the past and transforming it into a vibrant future is what makes this city an interesting place to visit.

“Whenever I find myself growing grim about the mouth; whenever it is a damp, drizzly November in my soul…then, I account it high time to get to sea as soon as I can.” –Herman Melville

The sentiments expressed here by Herman Melville in his introductory chapter to Moby Dick are ones I’ve often felt myself. Not that I ever have or will join a whaling ship on a disastrous metaphysical journey in search of the unattainable, but I understand the feeling, need, to get out there! Travel to places far different from the one experienced everyday. It has now been more than six months since I literally lived on the other side of the world and I’m getting a touch of cabin fever. The desire to find a place, research it, plan the route, mark out the stops, and enjoy the unexpected ways the plan is modified while making the journey… is almost unmanageable. Like Melville’s Ishmael there are specific ways I know that the time to travel is upon me, one of which, is that I become unjustly irritated by my home culture. I love where I grew up and I would not trade it because my family and friends here are unbelievably good to me. But, of course there was a “but” there, I can take only so much of the suburban American dream. When I realize that every single day in a given week I have made a trip to both target and chick-fil-a, I know its time to travel! Travel keeps life fresh. Flexibility is an essential aspect to enjoying travel and it is a great way to increase humility in one’s life. Sure being at the mercy of others to help you know where to go, what to eat, and even how to ask for these things can be scary but its also a great reminder of the reality that we control very little in our lives. And that depending on other people is not an entirely degrading thing. Does this mean that I will now again move to the other side of the world for another two years? No, but it does mean that I’m feeling rested and ready to leave my little nest and feast my eyes on something new. Find a place where I can try some new local food, meet people whose situation in life is even just slightly different from mine, and appreciate the interesting things that happen while getting there. For like Ishmael (and Melville himself I think),

“I am tormented with an everlasting itch for things remote.”

Yesterday I started college. For the second time. Exactly 10 years after the first time around. In a way my life can be divided into/sectioned off/added up (whatever you want to say) by different phases. And I can't help but laugh at the irony of being back in the "same" phase I was 10 years ago. Now "same" is a stretch, Kennesaw is no Auburn and 28 is very different than 18. So, it gets me thinking about a quote from TS Eliot, "We shall not cease from exploration and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time." I think i understand a little of what he means. The way I view life and school is so different now it's as if I'm knowing what it means to be a student for the first time. And as someone who has done my share of exploring I'm grateful for the lessons I've learned, the things I've seen, the change in me the Lord has made. I like that I'm knowing college as if for the first time. Also, I agree that, "we shall not cease from exploration", in fact I'm "back" in part to ensure the continuation of the exploring, the wandering. It's just fun that my Father has lead me on a path which brings me to a place that seems so like where I started. And I can't help but wonder if 10 years from now I'll be writing about starting college for the third time! PhD maybe? I do like the sound of Dr. Rambo. I suppose I'll just have to see how it all plays out in round two, after all, I did only start yesterday!