[Strangler Lewis]

We tell ourselves that if circumstances permitted--which they haven't--I would happily leave northern California for, say, Central Connecticut and its reasonably affordable houses, larger lots, four seasons as I remember them and properly funded schools.

And yet . . . I do harbor what I call my "Legally Blonde" doubts. The doubt that I would be leaving someplace that's truly more energetic, imaginative and, whatever the political stripe, independent, for a place that's maybe a little more hidebound. When my wife went back east to college in 1981, her newly adopted east coast friends initially eyed her suspiciously. So, I don't know.

Of course, everybody moves around so much, there's a Starbucks on any corner worth walking on, and, of course, there's the dominant virtual culture, so maybe such things don't matter anymore.