Director's Notes Ep 165 - Charlie

I lived in Western Massachusetts for a few years in the mid-00s. I worked at Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival in the southwest corner of the state, in the Berkshire Mountains. 

It was a magical place to me: both the Berkshires and Jacob's Pillow. I grew up in the suburbs of Dallas, and we really didn't ever have family vacations, so my experience of the world until my mid-20s was only ever North Texas and a couple of trips to New York City. 

So when my wife and I moved to Massachusetts in Summer of 2003, I was captivated by the rolling hills, the lush greenery, the big rivers and tiny lakes. The tiny villages across Western Mass seemed to all have an old church, a town square, independent book stores, thrift shops, at least 4 Italian red sauce joints, and just as many Irish pubs. 

I only ever thought all towns were just off an interstate complete with huge malls, chain restaurants, and a dozen square miles of box stores and car dealerships.

Suddenly America looked like the America of TV and film. Living in Northampton and working in little Becket, Massachusetts, I felt like I was driving through a movie set.

In writing in this episode about Charles Rainier, I thought about the jumps we make in life and the sudden shift of perspective that can happen in a move. Without my wife's longing to leave Texas and live someplace new, I don't know I would have ever motivated myself to leave the state I'd lived in for nearly a quarter century. And I would have missed so much.

Western Massachusetts isn't a stand-in for every small American town, of course. The banal sprawl of suburban Texas is a legitimate snapshot of America. So is Williamsburg, Brooklyn, and East LA, and Jackson, Mississippi, and San Francisco's Chinatown. Even Night Vale is a fictional amalgam of American community life. 

I only mean to say that when you stay in the same place your whole life, there's a disconnect between your experiences and those of the rest of the country. Once you can reach out and touch that "other" then all "others" seem more relatable.

-Jeffrey Cranor
April 1, 2020