Gorgeous scenery, flowing rivers, diverse wildlife for miles — a perceived utopia to any outsider, and the very things that attracted me to western Massachusetts from a big city like Philadelphia. Imagine my dismay after finally arriving at a place concocted in dreams, only to be shunned by the current residents of the area.

The tight-knit communities of rural living and the surrounding “urban” towns are nearly impossible to permeate as an outsider. Unless you share a similarity — whether an interest, a belief system, a hereditary trait, or widely accepted mannerisms — you can fully expect to be the “talk of the town” in a place like western Massachusetts. With its roots in pillaging the Natives who once called this place home and an overall population of primarily Caucasian residents, it’s no surprise that this is the flowering of the seeds once planted in this area.

Selena Rose

Westhampton