I live in Mesa, Arizona. According to Wikipedia, it is the 38th most populous city in The United States, with 452,933 citizens (compared with neighboring Phoenix, which comes in at #5 on the list with just over 1.5 million citizens). That’s Mesa’s ranking out of 262 cities, with the extremes being New York with more than 8.2 million and Palm Bay, Florida with 100,116. So that’s a pretty respectable amount of people, right?
Well, our 452,933 citizens are spread out over 133 square miles, creating a rather small population density of only 3,171 people per square mile. Compare that to my originating hometown of Anaheim, California. While ranked at #55 with 333,249 citizens, it has a density of 6,708 people per square mile, while having only 50 square miles in total land. Much more dense than Mesa, right?
What’s the point of all of this? I like cities. And theoretically – I live in one of the nation’s largest. Why doesn’t it feel like it? There is something about city life that I love – and something I relatively can’t stand about spread apart, brand-spankin’ new suburban communities. To that end, I enjoy doing things that make me feel as if I live in an actual city.
All of that to say – I got a library card today. I haven’t had one in years; I’ve been locked into the mind-numbing trap of driving down to Barnes & Noble at Tempe Marketplace, or Borders at Superstition Springs, to buy a new book. Of course, those places have their advantages – I can buy a book, hang out and drink coffee, and use the (usually) free wifi – plus they are great people-watching places. But (this may seem weird coming from an author) I’m a little over buying books that I read once or twice and then stick on the bookshelf. I don’t mean fiction books like the works of Eggers and Hemingway – those I’ll gladly buy and display on my shelf for years on end – I mean books on fairly topical things like business, networking, marketing, et cetera.
After weeks of procrastinating on the whole library scene, I took advantage of the dreary afternoon and spent some time at the library hunting these books. Free library card. Free book rental. I rented eight books today – for free! And I have them until the 4th! Plus, there was something right about the library – two floors filled with business people to the homeless, something authentic. I felt, again, like I was in a real city.
One thing I’m also quite looking forward to that helps to evoke the city-mindset is the opening of the Light Rail in a couple weeks. Reading about it on handy sites like these have built up my excitement even more – I’m going to, at least twice a week, take the new express bus from my house directly to the Light Rail station on Dobson, transfer, and then rail it up clear to downtown, where I will enjoy the amazing cappucinno’s and free wifi of Lux Coffeeshop. And what, in my mind, will make that even better? Rainy days, clouds, and warm jackets.
I’m still working on finding some redeeming factors of this city though for the summertime … if you have any ideas, drop me a line.
Posted by projectforever 
