Keeping it Civilized

For those of you that are interested, I finally got a decent night's sleep last night. Earplugs are my new best friends. They are surprisingly comfortable and good at keeping out noise. I'll be picking some more up this evening.

I got to thinking about manners while I was lying in bed these last couple of days. This whole insomnia thing began because of inconsiderate neighbors. I'm a big believer in manners and definitely don't think that we are always that good about showing them in this country. Yeah I sound old and cranky, I know. But I guess some places are more mannered than others.

Part of my job is looking for rankings and statistics, so I was excited when I ran into this list. Annually, up until 2005, Marjabelle Young Stewart would make an unofficial list of America's Best Mannered Cities. Charleston, SC always lead the list. In 2005 San Diego came in second, followed by Seattle. The Quad Cities (here in Iowa) even showed up on there. Marjabelle was an etiquette guru who used testimonials, personal experience, letters, and reviews to create this list. Now I'm suddenly interested in visiting Charleston. I want to know what a truly well-mannered city looks like.

On the same note, one of my favorite lists is America's Most Literate Cities. As a reader and a writer, I want to associate with people who also read a lot. I'm drawn to writers and libraries and bookstores like a moth. The ranking uses newspaper circulation, library resources, number of bookstores, educational attainment, access to internet, and number of periodicals to compile. I think it's interesting which cities were chosen. Minneapolis-St. Paul is close, and truly two of my favorite cities in the country. If only they weren't so cold. Seattle is beautiful and if it wasn't so expensive, I'd already be there. For the southern climes, I could gladly move to Atlanta. I have family in St. Louis which would make a move easier. Strangely these are all cities that I have at one point thought about moving to. I have been drawn to them. And now I realize why.