Places&People

So i've been thinking about cities well places

about the different places there are.

some people have never left their city or their town, their place.

and as much as you read or watch about cities or different places

you don't know them.

you don't really know them.

not until you've inhaled their air, not till you've strut down their streets,

not till the day you catch yourself prouncing "dog" the way they do,

or "creek" the way they do, or calling a group of people "ya'll".

Not until that day can you claim you've "been here" or "been there".

and i believe that. 

So what makes Omaha different from Newark or

Philly different from Austin or Mesa?

it's not the air. it's not the streets, or the trees,

the buildings, or the places called home.

It's the people. 

you might hate me for claiming that people are the biggest difference.

well maybe it is the air or the streets that make the people different sure...

But a place isn't a place until different people make it a place

and define it as a place. People define a place

and make a place what they want.

To Alicia Keys, New York's a concrete jungle where dreams are made of.

and i think Biggie Smalls said he's going going back back to Cali Cali.

and Fergie thinks Miami's saying "la la la la la".

so maybe it's Fergie that makes a place a place. i don;t know.

But i do believe we define places as much as they define us.

it's the ocean that makes us feel free.

it's the mountains that make us feel safe. 

it's the skyscrapers that makes us feel like we can fly.

it;s the bridges that help us feel like when can connect.

it's the deserts that make us feel like adventurers.

it's the jungles that make us feel like explorers,

But people aren't people until different places make them people

and define them as people. Places define people

and make people who they are.