I did an internship in Washington, D.C., and from a news perspective it was like being at the center of an information hole. Everything at the bottom of the hole had an exaggerated importance, and little beyond the rim could be seen. All the major news organizations have headquarters there, and even trivial things get coverage they wouldn't if they occurred in some other location. A murder trial or criminal activity that would be ignored at a national level if it occurred in a small city can end up national news when it takes place in Washington. There are thousands of murders that take place every year. I doubt the sniper shootings near D.C. would have gotten half as much attention if they had taken place in say Detroit instead.

I live in a small city not close to anything major, and in information terms this puts me closer to the rim looking down into the hole. I'm not at the imagined center of things,and my local community has no exaggerated sense of self-importance. We have things that are important to us here - local politics, criminal events, sporting events, disasters - but they are local, and none of us think that we are anything special.

In my personal life, I'm the same way. I don't want to be in the center. I'd rather be looking down from the rim. I'm a bit too eccentric to escape people's notice, but I don't want to live in a world where people's focus is directed at me much of the time. I'd rather be sitting there watching others, in the shadows at the edge of the circle, with an occasional light illuminating me, but for the most part doing my own thing in the back. I don't have to be the life of the party, the belle of the ball, the finder of great things or the doer of great deeds. I'm just a spot on the map, a little city you might pass through some day and say, "Hey. Neat steeples." and then move on.