[Essay] Suburbanites Anonymous

This is the second part of the rewrite.

My name is Dave, and I’m a suburbanite.

“Hi, Dave.”

Hello. Arguably, I’ve lived in it all my life. Even when my family lived in Clio, a small farming town outside of Flint, we lived in a pocket of Suburban Reality. We lived in a sub division that was bordered on all sides by acres and acres of field. It was an incongruous blip on a rural radar. Of course, Clio is no longer limited to the one sub division. Like most places, it has succumbed to the suburban lifestyle. It has a Wal-Mart. I’m certain that all of this has affected my views of the outdoors.

So, after our move to real suburbia – 25 miles north of Detroit – my brother and I were willingly submersed into nature as our Dad got us into Boy Scouts. From the time I joined until the beginning of High School, I was able to learn respect for nature, though I never quite felt at home there.

To this day, though I lived amongst city people trying to escape to nature, I find myself never quite at ease in an outdoor setting. My name is Dave, and I’m a suburbanite.

“Hi, Dave.”