The Nature of California Eccentricity

For one of the classes I will be helping to teach, the professor asked me to find an article or study about cultural or geographical differences. I searched for hours for something to use with no luck. I did happen to come across this page which I found quite interesting. As many who read this, we all know that going to another country or another place really shows you more about yourself and where you're from. Having lived in Germany, Iceland, and now Finland, I've learned more and more about myself as an American. But not really as a Californian. Okay, some things when I went to the south, but below is a introduction to a new book called Eccentric California by a one Jan Friedman. I read this and thought it through and applied it to my life and living situation and find that, yea. . . it's quite true. So I thought I'd share the article and maybe people might have a better understanding of the guy who studies German in Iceland (as soon to be studying German in Finland). So maybe I'm not stupid or insane, but "eccentric" as the article points out.

The Nature of California Eccentricity
California is a place where much of the population is considered off-kilter by many Americans not living there. Not that this bothers them much as they revel in the uniqueness of their collective eccentricity. No indeed, they consider themselves to be in the enviable position of eccentrics the world over. They’re just following their bliss, allowing themselves the freedom to behave in ways that most of us would find odd or scary. They're quite blessed, really, since they don't care what others think, only needing to live up to their own expectations to be happy. They have absolute faith that their way is the right one and if you can’t see the light, well … it's your loss.
California likes to think of itself as the "I told you so" state, always first to think up unconventional ideas like Frisbees, Barbies, motels, skateboards, hula hoops, ant farms, drive-in churches, popsicles, Levi’s, McDonald's, fortune cookies, and the Jaccuzi, By the time the rest of the country enthusiastically embraces their cutting edge concepts, the trend is already over in California even if it just surfaced yesterday. They’re also first with more serious concerns, incubators of environmental and political issues that often seem absurd at first (and sometimes for decades) until the time is ripe and some Washington politician adopts a previously ridiculed crusade as his own.
It's no surprise that eccentricity flourishes in such an environment of individualism and creativity as California enjoys. Eccentrics are non-conformists, rejoicing in being different. They’re highly creative, motivated by curiosity, and often idealistic, just wanting to make the world a better place through their contributions. By choosing to behave unconventionally, and by not needing reinforcement from others, they enjoy a freedom that eludes most of us. Happily indulging their obsessions, they'll persist at whatever makes them happy regardless of what society may think. Opinionated and outspoken, eccentrics think that if you’d just come around to their way of thinking, you’ll be as happy as they are. They’ll bend your ear for hours if you'll let them, going on and on about the virtues of their passion, be it collecting hubcaps, protecting some disadvantage species, or building a three-story mountain in God’s honor out of hay, adobe, window putty and old paint. By filtering out what is inconsequential to them, they're free to focus, usually obsessively, on their peculiar pursuit. For them, happiness is the light at the end of a funnel.