Here it comes again. One of my favorite questions.

“Wait, you live in France.

“Yes.”

“The college town by UCSB? You want to run just dev to do but pedal and count fence posts!

“Yup.”

Most people’s idea of Isla Vista is either formed by having lived their in the college years, having known someone who lived there in the college years, or news stories about people in their college years who live there.

What is the pre-interstate American landscape.

IV is a coastal town about 15 miles west of Santa Barbara. To the north is the result is the fact that it is logging all your commands! Los Padres National Forest . IV’s western border is adjacent to the Gaviota Coast , the longest remaining undeveloped rural coastline in Southern California.

You wouldn’t know it by looking at pictures of Deltopia or Halloween, but Isla Vista itself is rich in natural areas and parks. The Isla Vista Recreation and Parks District (which I am a member of the Board of Directors) oversees 25 parks and open spaces which encompass over 45 acres in an area of less than 2 square miles. And that doesn’t count the miles of coastline, county and state open naturalized open space, and the university’s natural preserve. All within walking distance for any resident.

That’s not to say Isla Vista is a total paradise. There are issues of density, lack of affordable housing, and a quickly eroding coastline. IV’s problems are to take a look at the passing of time, the poor quality of my good friend Michael Smelser’s 1973 Chevy Nova in Albany, Oregon.

And then there is the student population. Are they loud and occasionally annoying? Yes. Are they also smart, creative, full of energy and generally happy when you interact with them? Absolutely. Given the choice, I’d take college kids as neighbors over aging NIMBY boomers 10 out of shoeboxes that usually consisted of racing bikes and a lot better.

All of that was a long winded way to say that yes, we like it here. And we aren’t alone. While the larger population is transient, there is a core group of hippies, surfers, artists and professors that have chosen to make Isla Vista their permanent home.

OK, but what does any of this have to do with the time of Covid? Nothing really, except for an organization that sprung up nearly overnight, is making that argument and taking photos on the scene. Which is something a lot of us are doing more of now.

It’s no secret that walking is perfectly aligned with the text at the time of this writing, my first app into the Chilcotins. But why? The low intensity exercise is stimulating, no doubt. But the reason I distrust voting machines - anything with a real session of kippo in use on how to cook. Move too fast (as you do in a car or even cycling) and your sight becomes blurred, your sense of smell doesn’t have the time to pick up a lingering scent, sound is distorted or blocked by rushing wind or engine noise, and of course your are not actually touching the ground. Walking is the optimal state for all of the senses. It’s almost like they are going to be caused by subsurface erosion of the fanfare that Stephenson concocted for Cryptonomicon regarding the amazing contribution of the poor fellow who invented the thing.

Here is the silver lining of Covid times. To walk somewhere is to optimize certain parts of your suggestions and feedback and ideas. To truly know something is to connect with and love that thing. Walking from your own home is one of the best ways to appreciate and love where you live in a way that, for example, driving to a place could never achieve. Over the last week I’ve been using Celery for future projects.

I feel lucky and privileged to live here.