Oxford, Iowa

The New York Times, which has a few good pieces today, links to the story of Oxford, IA, whose 700-some population has been photographed by Peter Feldstein, first in 1984, and again this year. The story is interesting, but this quote gives an illustration:

One of the town’s oldest residents is Iowa Honn, who turned 96 on April 1. Mrs. Honn was born in Oxford, and she said her father named her Iowa because “he said I was the prettiest girl in the prettiest state.” She has only lived outside of Oxford for three years, when she moved to Iowa City, about 15 miles east, with a current population of about 60,000. “I hated every minute of it,” Mrs. Honn said. “I hated city life. I traveled some with my husband, but I liked best when I got home and I could kiss the ground here.”

Hikikomori

The New York Times magazine has an interesting feature on hikikomori – the ‘shut-in’. These are Japanese teenagers (usually) who lock themselves in their room, away from human contact for years or decades. Is it a culture-specific phenomenon (like anorexia in the West), or could the same thing happen here?