Same is good

I've come back to my hometown to complete the final phase of my feature on organic farming - the interview with an actual organic farmer. I recorded this interview last night and took photos of his organic farm this morning, so watch out for a Soundslide that I think will be very moving and informative.

I'm sure you've heard the old saying that different is good. Didn't some fast-food chain actually trademark that for a period of time? Well, y'all, I beg to differ.

Every time my train pulls past Strathroy, Ont., on that final stretch to Sarnia-Lambton, my knee starts bopping up and down, in an excited twitch. I see my old grade school to the left of the train, my dad's business to the right. I look for sideroads and landmarks that never change to signal my return to a place that grows dearer to me the longer I'm away from it. It's a comfortable sameness that I hope never goes away.

I know I can rely on this area. I know Dan, the organic farmer I interviewed, has never had a journalism student from Toronto call him up and sit down with a microphone and camera with him before. Still, it's that same easy-going demeanor that I so look forward to when I return to this area that allowed our two worlds to come together. It was that demeanor that led him to speak so eloquently about his organic farm and the joys and the pitfalls of his industry.

On Saturday night I will return to Toronto. I will complete this feature in the next two weeks, graduate and begin working full-time until at least the end of the summer. My life will terrifyingly continue to change. I don't know where I will be living in six months, if I will still have a job at that point or who I will be dating. I don't know what friends will continue to be in my life once school isn't there to hold us together or if I'll finally bring my fish tank to Toronto (er, I mean, yes, mom, I'll finally take care of my own fish).

I do know, however, that my home and the people here will be the same. Sure, our Super Wal-Mart may finally be complete and sure, Starbucks may eventually come to the area. But this slow, Southwestern charm will always remain.