Fayetteville, Arkansas: Home Away from Home
Over the past 5 years, Fayetteville has become my home away from home. I moved here for college in the fall of 2018 and have lived here most of the time since then. Fayetteville is the second largest city in Arkansas with 93,949 residents. It is nestled in the Ozark Mountains in the northwest corner of Arkansas. I would describe Fayetteville as a big-small town. It has all the resources that are found in large cities, while still keeping the small-town community feel. Nature is a main element of its culture with all of the lakes, hiking trails, parks, farms, and bicycle trails that are within and around the city. The area of Fayetteville around the University and the town square are the places that feel the most like home to me. This area has many elements that encourage physical activity, eating healthily, and being outdoors. There is a push to make the city more walkable and encourage modes of active transit with the development of the Razorback Greenway.
The website for the city of Fayetteville describes Fayetteville as having “something for everyone” including various “exciting events in the city” and “wonderful scenic adventures for people who enjoy the outdoors.”
Experience Fayetteville describes Fayetteville as "more than a city. It's more than a collection of attractions or events. It's an experience." They go on to say "Fayetteville has a year-round temperate climate and offers endless outdoor activities with extensive paved - and soft-surface trails throughout the city, as well as state parks and national forest just outside the city."
University of Arkansas
A large part of this city becoming my second home is the University of Arkansas and the Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design. The University of Arkansas really shares Fayetteville's nature-focused values and is a major source of the community spirit. The Arkansas Razorbacks are a huge icon for Fayetteville and really Arkansas as a whole. It is the only major sports team we have in Arkansas so if you are from Arkansas you are a Razorback fan. That is just kind of a rule of thumb I have learned and experienced from living in Arkansas for 22 years. The sense of community gets scaled down and stronger inside the Fay Jones school. There is such a strong community feel for the students in Fay Jones because of the collaborative work ethic, group discussions, and overall layout of the studios. The studio environment quickly became my home during freshman year. The huge rooms with rows upon rows of desks. Each person is given a sense of ownership over a desk but is still really connected to everyone else in the studio. It encourages students to talk through problems, provide positive and sometimes negative feedback, and monitor the health and safety of their peers. Unfortunately, the past few years of Covid and remote learning have kind of killed this environment, but I hope it comes back as we adjust back to in-person.
Cabot, Arkansas: My First Home
I am originally from Cabot, Arkansas born and raised. This town is located in central Arkansas and has about 26,376 people who live there. I would describe this town as a small town. It has strong farming roots and consists mostly of neighborhoods today. Many people who live here commute to bigger towns, such as Little Rock or Searcy, for work. The main employer in Cabot is the Cabot Public School District. One fact that I find very interesting and tells a lot about the social and cultural aspects of the town is the steady growth it experienced in the 1950s. Little Rock was one of the first main areas to push desegregation after the 1954 ruling of Brown vs. Board of Education. This caused a phenomenon known as “white flight.” This is where people move to cities located just outside of the main city to escape the racial discord occurring in the city and avoid desegregation. Cabot was one of the main cities that people fled to. Anyway, Cabot is probably most known for its school district and the Strawberry Fest that it hosts each year. It has weekly farmers markets on Saturdays and food truck festivals every 3rd Thursday of the month. Growing up here, I felt a very strong sense of community because of these events and all of the other opportunities. My entire family lives in Cabot so for me this sense of community and family is still very strong today.
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