"Towns They Don't Want to Leave"- New York Times →
an article about people who don’t leave college towns after they graduate with a section about Athens and quotes from David and Mercer“The success of former Athens bands like R.E.M., the B-52’s, Pylon and Neutral Milk Hotel has buoyed the dreams of a contingent of U.Ga. graduates who perform in one another’s living rooms and basements.
Mercer West, a 2004 graduate from suburban Atlanta, calls Athens a “creative neverland” and says most of his friends hung around so they could live cheaply and keep their bands together. Mr. West plays in five and has turned the bottom floor of his home, a converted warehouse, into a performance space and screen-printing shop, run by three other U.Ga. graduates. He describes Athens as a “little bohemian enclave where the line between college and the rest of your life becomes blurred.”
“I’m not one of those people who’s always talking about leaving,” says Mr. West, 26. “I realize there’s this whole stigma around the word ‘townie,’ even as I quickly turn into one.”
Athens is a difficult place to start a career; options are generally limited to waiting tables, teaching or working for the university. Mr. West says many of his friends “know they can fall back on their parents if anything bad happens.”
David Specht, 26, who rents Mr. West’s top floor, graduated from U.Ga. in 2003 with a degree in West African cinema and literature (“That’s pretty much saying: no jobs ever”). He managed an art-moving company in Brooklyn before moving back to Athens. Now a woodworker, he is learning to play the violin. In Brooklyn, he didn’t feel the same “creative electrical sparks.””
haha this is so athens mentality
Notes:
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kings reblogged this from snaggleraggle
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roads2roam reblogged this from allisonweiss and added:
Something about the nostalgia of college life… I will say that Athens/Savannah and like places have a certain… charm. A...
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jennypeck reblogged this from allisonweiss and added:
haha this is so athens mentality
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allisonweiss reblogged this from snaggleraggle
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snaggleraggle posted this
