Becoming a Boulderite

Boulderite from Amy Button on Vimeo.

My Ongoing Epiphany

            Slowly and surely living in this bubble really does yield some effects on those living inside. A year ago, as a newbie in town, my ways were much different. Growing up in a small town full of republicans and horses, I didn’t realize how much I had yet to learn about life. This is my confession of becoming a H.I.P.P.I.E (Healthy, Intellectual-thinking Person, Passionately Inspired Everyday.)

            Before my days here, Cinnamon Toast Crunch completed my source of “energy” to kick start my mornings along with a Vente Starbucks that was filled with mostly two percent milk and maybe some coffee. My parents who grew up in the Midwest are true believers in meat, cheese, potatoes and corn, lots of corn. My diet was made up of all the “good” stuff that turns out to be not very good for you. Every day at lunch my friends and I would go eat at Sonic, which was the cool hang out in town. I drank so many energy drinks that my heart should have exploded, and my sleeping habits included sleeping in until eleven being a must.

 My hippie roommate, who came from the far off foreign land of Hawaii, was the reason behind my first epiphany here in Boulder. She introduced me to words like quinoa, flaxseed, poke and hummus, which after asking her what she was talking about, were foods.  Over the course of the year, more and more of these revelations continued to happen which brought me to why I eat Spinach for breakfast and granola for a snack. The “old me” surfaces on weekend nights at a place called Cosmos. It seems like the majority of people leave all dietary restrictions at the door when they enter that place. The same girl who was barely eating away at her green salad with avocado earlier that day will be sitting with a few slices of pizza, a whole container of spicy ranch, and a look on her face that says “Don’t you dare steal a slice.” For whatever reason, this is patented as acceptable behavior.

            Aside from broadening my food horizons, I have self-designated myself as a professional sidewalk biker. Although in my last zip code nothing was bike accessible and most of the time my Cruzer hung from the rafters of the garage, I immediately assumed I knew everything there was to know about riding a bicycle through a city. I learned quickly that it meant riding really fast, cutting it as close as possible to pedestrians and ignoring most traffic signs or even cars for that matter. It turns out this is the “Boulder” way to ride a bike and it only takes a few days to pick up on the skill. Since trying to drive a car through this town could cause someone brain damage, the majority of the population has turned to the healthy transportation choice. Never in my life have I walked, biked or ran on a daily basis as much as I do now and I fully enjoy it. I plug in my headphones and fill these in route gaps of time with another new discovery from Boulder, reggae music. There is nothing that will bring a smile to my face more than walking across the beautiful CU campus, on a day lit up with sunshine, as the flat irons strike a pose for a million Instagram photos while Bob Marley tells me that every little thing is gonna be alright. This was another one of my epiphanies, but it happens every day.

            My hometown, Elizabeth, Colorado, according to Wikipedia, is 94% white and judging on how inaccurate Wikipedia is; I could even assume that number to be higher. Diversity was not something I was exposed to. When I had to have someone explain what the acronym LGBT stood for, I had yet again, another epiphany of just how sheltered and naïve I was. Boulder has introduced me to the greatest span of people from all across the world that I could’ve imagined. Just hearing new voices and stories, I have grown way past what I have learned in the classrooms. Everyone has so much to bring to the table and one new face has the power to completely reveal an entirely new perspective. Observing and tuning into the overall vibes on campus or just around the town of Boulder, quickly puts off a “high on life” mentality. People are genuinely happy to be here, some more than others, but that positive attitude is contagious. When I used to sleep in and waste away my days, I now love waking up early, to “smell the roses” so to speak and enjoy the life that surrounds me here every day.

Soon you start saying things like “the world is such a good place” or “life is so good.” Then you actually seek out the recycling bin and start being mindful of how long your shower takes. Live music on Pearl St. sounds like the perfect source of entertainment and a sunrise from Chautauqua Park couldn’t be a better start to the day. You begin to see that maybe you do prefer soymilk over regular milk. A hammock is the best addition to a back deck and the best place to read a book on world peace. Once you become a Boulderite, there’s no going back, and I am completely content with that, even if someone does want to call me a dirty hippie.