Subdivisions

Living in the Midwest, I've learned there are few things that raise the ire of the community more than questioning the status quo.

Most of my neighbors are pretty forward-thinking--I mean, they DID allow the Starbucks to come in.

Eventually.

And the crunchy, independent Coffee Bean is still doing a healthy business after all. There's an IKEA in the works a few miles away, and dollar stores are pretty popular. So let's face it, enormous capital growth and progress is just burgeoning!

But when the public art display we worked on all summer goes to auction in a few days, I'm betting folks will once again want to go back to more familiar territory. The most popular pieces so far have been those with cute little butterflies and our town's name emblazened on it with pink and yellow curly cues.

Alternatively, my favorite piece is from a young artist who used chopped up bits of mirror and lots of black to create a graffiti-esque statement.

True, it wouldn't fit into my end-of-the cul-de-sac, largely beige decor, which is why everyone else seems to pass it by. Admittedly, I will too, when they go up for sale.

And that's the shame of it. While all of us are very busy choosing cabinet colors to emulate the neighbor's latest remodeling project, we're missing out on the intesense opportunity to try something unique, daring or personal. It's like a disease that spreads into your body the older you get and the more established you become. But it means we're all living vanilla instead of looking--at least--for the chocolate drizzle to top it off. And that's the best part, isn't it? The chocolate drizzle?