The Dallas/Fort Worth is home to over seven million people. SEVEN MILLION! The state in which I recently moved from is home to just over two and a half million. If the math is done correctly, that would mean that the two cities of Dallas and Forth Worth are nearly triple the population of my entire state of Arkansas. And while the state population is low, my city population is laughable, three thousand eight hundred. As small as that sounds, it was a large improvement from when I moved from a city that did not even put a population number beside the city sign. With all of that said, there are many opportunities in Dallas that are not present in Sheridan, AR.
DFW provides clubs, concerts, every restaurant imaginable, aquariums, malls, shopping centers, movie theatres, professional sports, and countless other forms of entertainment and fun. At SMU, it seems as though the day does not even begin until ten twelve at night. Clubbing, and parties will go until the wee hours in the morning. Six Flags is only twenty minutes away from campus, and they have every thrill ride imaginable. Not only is North Park mall available, but the Galleria is nationally known as well. The movie theatres are on every corner, so no matter how popular a movie is, there is always a ticket. Dallas is home to “America’s Team” in the Cowboys, along with the Mavericks, Rangers, and Stars. There is never a break from society and there is always something to participate in.
Sheridan, Arkansas is drastically different. Sheridan is home to two local sit-down restaurants, the Ice House and Big’s Bar-B-Que. There are no clubs, movie theatres, malls, or professional teams. For entertainment similar to Dallas, one must travel about an hour and a half. So for entertainment, we all go out to the woods. In the woods an individual can hunt, fish, climb trees, paintball, ride four-wheelers, and play hide-n-go-seek. There are family reunions every year that consists of fist fights and fish fry’s. The Rec-Center is home to the public pool and a public basketball court. On Friday nights, all of the young people will go out and ride four-wheelers and just sit around a camp fire watching stars. There was one “night ride” in which about forty-nine kids went along on four-wheelers. Everyone goes to the High School games, and the town will shut down if we have a good team. The greatest difference between the two forms of fun are that Dallas begins at eleven p.m., and Sheridan shuts down at ten p.m. When I come home from my girlfriend’s house, there would be maybe three cars on the streets, not three million.
2 comments:
I can't imagine coming from such a tiny city. Two restaurants? Really?
I come from a fairly large city, also currently known as the "most dangerous city" in the US. Saint Louis is a great place, don't get me wrong, but there are definitely limits on what my friends & I feel comfortable doing. Our downtown is the "city" those statistics reference, and it's pretty sketchy. It's the home to our entertainment center, football stadium, and home of the Saint Louis Cardinals. I'd say I'm pretty comfortable going to events there, but other then that, I don't venture downtown much.
The one thing I'd LOVE about your town and never miss about the STL is traffic. Right now they shut down our only highway running from east to west for 2 YEARS!!! Senior year it took me 45 minutes to get to my high school 2 miles away every morning. That's when i wish we didn't need a population sign either...
I think a lot of people feel nostalgic about small towns like yours, even when they've only passed through them on road trips. We believe that towns like Sheridan are the "salt of the earth," or the patchwork quilt of America. I loved visiting my grandmother in her tiny town in Iowa, but I also heard about the constant haranguing and rumors that everyone had to deal with--not something I'd like to be around on a daily basis.
In big cities, you can live in relative anonymity, not worrying about everyone spying on you or judging you. Do you find that living in a big city gives you more personal freedom from rumors and potential judgment?
Post a Comment