My town is considered an ideal breeding ground for children but I'm beginning to wonder. It's probably true that the school system is first rate. It's the culture that I worry about.
We have the ethnic diversity of an Icelandic church social. White is everywhere. A few oriental faces, maybe one or two Indian kids in the school, but otherwise a linen landscape.

There are advantages. My son has very dark skin, his biological father probably coming from southern Russia. I can pick him out of busy play ground at a hundred yards. Finding my blonde, blue-eyed daughter, however, is like finding a contact lense in a bowl of water.

I grew up in a town like this. Even worse actually - I never met a Jew or Asian until I went to college. The upbringing is safe, like a double-walled container. But I think there is a price to pay for not knowing the world as it is.

But it isn't just the ethnicity that bothers me. We see a lot of kids at the pool, the playground, and around town. Is it me or are they tightly controlled, building solitary worlds from Play-Dough, quiet and thoughtful, annoyed by loud noises like laughter? These are the budding bulemics, racing through flash cards while scratching hands underneath the table.