-
Why Lancaster: Daniel Klotz
08.07.09 // Posted in Lancaster, Why Lancaster
During the month of August we will be posting answers to the question WHY LANCASTER? We would love to hear from some of the wonderful women doing great things in our city.
Daniel Klotz lives in the city with his wife, 5 guinea pigs, and cat. He is a social media strategist at YDOP and blogs at DanielKlotz.com.
Why Lancaster?
Because what else is there? I am not a farmer. If I owned land, think of the waste, all that work to maintain and no one to enjoy it but myself and my friends. I cannot bear the thought of the suburbs, living amidst sprawl, on a cul-de-sac, in a house sheathed in vinyl siding, and nowhere to go without an automobile. I belong in the city. At the same time, I’ve tried the metropolises, and no thank you. People handle the magnitude of a metropolis by carving it into boroughs, districts, neighborhoods. But then it is carved up, and what do you have? Pieces. I want a whole.
Because I love the region, and why shouldn’t I? The terrain, the lingering industrial blue-collar work ethic, the deciduous trees, the sublime struggle to stay slightly ahead of the crumbling infrastructure, the constant influx of new people, new ideas, new ways of doing things—these are a part of me.
Because I’m happy here. In Lancaster I meet people, and people are open to meeting me. We challenge ourselves to improve, and that is why Lancaster won’t stagnate. There are places to go, things to do, ideas to hear.
Because while Lancaster is home, it is also not-home. No matter how long I live here, there will always be something new and foreign. There are differences of opinion (many of my friends love their cul-de-sacs). There are a variety of languages, ethnicities, and cultures alive and thriving. There is music to hear that I’ve never heard before.
Because when I say “We are Lancaster,” I know it to be an honest affirmation that you are Lancaster, too.
3 Comments so far
3 Responses to “Why Lancaster: Daniel Klotz”
11:08 am on August 7th, 2009
“Because while Lancaster is home, it is also not-home. No matter how long I live here, there will always be something new and foreign.” Well put!
Good luck at your new job. I look forward to hearing more from you on Twitter.
3:33 pm on August 7th, 2009
Spoken like a true out-of-towner…
12:45 pm on August 14th, 2009
[...] We Are Lancaster (If you missed it, I contributed an answer to their “Why Lancaster” series) [...]