"I love reading, and I love going to bookstores because I think it’s fun to hold a book physically in your hand. I love the smell of books, particularly old books that haven’t been opened in a long time that have a musty smell to them, and the spine cracks when you open them. King’s Books is full of old books, and they have so many different topics. The first week I was here I bought “What to Expect When You’re Expecting” to learn more about pediatrics. They have a great western selection. My favorite American author is Larry McMurtry, who writes western novels. I also like modern novels set in rural areas. This place just has a huge variety of books and it’s a happy place to go.

 

I think I would identify with the Western Frontier culture. The values of self-sufficiency, reliance on community, value of family, and other things like being out in nature, gardening, sharing meals with family and friends. And also the decentralization of power, sort of the core value of the frontier west. In contrast on the east coast there is less flexibility economically, there’s old wealth. Maybe this is part of the myth of the frontier, but it feels like there is more opportunity for upward mobility in the west. There is more land, and freedom. Frontiers are always changing, and if you live on a frontier you have to be flexible. McMurtry writes about cities, and he always creates some sort of dissonant change, like the city is changing, the character’s life is changing or their values are changing, and that creates a sort of frontier for that person. That would be my value system. Your value system is passed down from your family, your parents. My grandparents were coal miners in Black Diamond just outside of Tacoma. Maybe that contributed to my value system, but it’s also the value systems you create for yourself."

 

Dr. Matt Novack, TFM Resident