Living An American Dream

It's been twenty years since I moved to the United States, one of the most pivotal moments of my life. In 1994, my family was transferred to the town of Lake Charles in Louisiana for a year as my father had industry expertise that a local chemical plant required. I remember my mother being none to happy about the move at the time but looking back, it was probably the best thing that ever happened to us, not least because that ten months significantly influenced my life and general world view.

We arrived on Saturday 13 August 1994 and were hit by a wall of heat and humidity you would expect in the Deep South. That took a good three weeks to get used to. We met a few ex-pat families - the Murphys who were British and the Pontbriands who were French Canadian. We would later find out that the latter were a family to avoid such was their self-interest.

I started school four days later, on the Wednesday. It was an episcopalian middle school called EDS, where it was required to go to church twice weekly, on a Monday and a Friday. I opted to take communion, in the belief that it would make me a more spiritual person, but in the end it didn't. There was a strong Christian ethos in the school though, we even had to go on mandatory Bible camp during the school year, and although I did not subscribe to the scripture at least I discovered more about and found a respect for religion.

At the age of 11 and 12, a lot of things influence you. At the age of puberty I guess that's natural. My time at EDS was generally happy, with supportive teachers and good friends, a far cry from the nightmare to which I was return in England - a northern comprehensive school where it was largely every kid for himself. Indeed the teachers were so supportive they became friends and the school was largely one big family. I was graduated onto their SPARK program for gifted kids after passing the tests, where we had to go to a different school once a week and do intelligent things. I was still rubbish at sports and feared in the first week how I would get through it, but having the excuse of the heat tended to work. The school also encouraged creativity far more than those at home, with us putting on plays quite regularly. We also had a science fair at which I managed to graduate to state level, representing the city in Baton Rouge such was the quality of my photosynthesis project. This creativity was nurtured in me and again contributed to how my mind works today. I don't know what thr school would make of me today, being a gay furry working in the gambling industry with a penchant for BDSM.

The racial divide, as we are seeing in Ferguson now, was particularly strong and this too coloured my politics, the wrong side of the tracks being a very literal reality in the city. There was real poverty here, far beyond what I have since seen in the UK and predominantly affecting black people for whatever reason. Culturally, the Cajun creole thing was quite exciting, with a range of foods to try such as gumbo and jambalaya. Every dessert had cinnamon too, to the point of it being nauseating. Furthermore, living in a swamp area meant a completely different scenery and indeed hazards such as the water moccasin and alligators, which were quite ubiquitous. Having a swimming pool in our back garden was a thrill for a pre-teen but we did have to check the filter every day for snakes. I became less scared of snakes than I am today.

We did a lot of traveling in the States, taking in 19 states in the 10 months we were there - we took every opportunity to travel, even though the school holidays were paultry (they had one long summer and not much else). We had Thanksgiving in Arkansas (a Shoneys dinner may not have been the greatest) and Easter in Washington DC at the same time John Major was visiting Bill Clinton. We visited the space centres in Houston and Huntsville as well as sampling the unique buzz of New Orleans and seeing the swampy panorama under the 25 mile long Achafalaya Swamp Freeway. This profoundly influenced me and contributed to my wanderlust today. I still find different cultures and places fascinating and the seeds of this were sewn in the Deep South, which was so different to North-East England.

From memory I think my mother bored in the USA but for me, it was quite illuminating. I had a very happy year here and was sad to leave when we did the following June. Granted I had put on over three stone in weight due to the range of delicious yet unhealthy food, coupled with the fact no one walked anywhere due to the heat (there were no high streets, just air conditioned malls and separate businesses with separate parking lots), but I do have happy memories of the place. I keep meaning to go back, to see what has changed in 20 years, but it's not the easiest place to get to. It's something that would be great to experience though, perhaps with Wolfie.