Moving to Keene

Let me start this blog from the beginning of my Keene/Antioch experience. I moved to Keene from Philadelphia, PA, August of 2007, into a room of a big old New England clapboard house with four other Antioch students. My room is what used to be the parlor, doubtless the scene of many a visitor in times past. With a big old desk painted a new purple, and lively green and white curtains I’ve managed to create an eclectic mix of  old and new.  

The sun seems so much brighter, the sky bluer, and the wind crisper, here in Keene. The town sits on an ancient lake bed and we are surrounded by hills and mountains in the distance. Keene is a smallish town of about 25,000 people, it’s the county seat, and has a thriving downtown area. I live about a ten minute walk to the town square and another ten or so minutes gets me to Antioch.

Most mornings I walk to Prime Roast, one of the local coffeehouses, and have an eye opening cup of coffee. This is sometimes followed by a walk about town looking at stores, galleries and other attractions. I have visited the two local grocery stores here in Keene as well as the local health food store. I even managed to visit Brattleboro, VT and shopped at the very large food co-op.

Being used to public transportation I take the wee community bus to get around Keene when I don’t feel like walking. The big difference in bus transportation between Philly and Keene is that everybody seems to know one another’s name here. It’s sort of like a mobile ‘Cheers’ without Cliff and Norm.

I have managed to visit some historic sites in Keene as well as the home parish of Jonathan Daniel, an Episcopal priest who died in the struggle for civil rights some forty years ago. Keene is home to a wide variety of faith communities, including Quakers and Mindfulness Meditation, both of which I frequent.

In the seven months of living here in Keene I have discovered a community that prides itself as a traditional small town and also as a place of innovative and progressive thinking. I have connected with this town and what it has to offer and I am discovering new aspects and offerings on a weekly basis. When I moved here I emailed my friends back in Philly and pronounced:

“Good bye cruel world, I’ve moved to the Shire”.