Student splits time between E.L., Capitol

I’ll admit it took me a while to become comfortable with the idea of living in Lansing.

David Barker

I lived in East Lansing for 16 years — elementary through high school and one year after — and spent exactly zero time doing anything in Michigan’s Capitol. It really wasn’t until I was strapped for cash that I began hanging out in Lansing — and only then because I had to live there.

At the moment, I pay $233 a month for my room in a three-bedroom house. With utilities, garbage, cable and Internet, I pay, on average, $300 a month. When I lived in East Lansing, I paid about $350 a month for a three-bedroom apartment.

Say what you will about Lansing, but the housing is pretty cheap. There are probably a few reasons for that.

My current living arrangement is cheap because my roommate and I had to strip and refinish the floors, paint the rooms and clean some pretty heinous gunk out of the basement. To further put this into perspective, I also should mention I live in a dead-end alley 100 feet from a liquor store.

As bad as that sounds, with the exception of the family of raccoons across the street storming the porch at night, I find my existence to be rather peaceful. And cheap. Don’t forget that.

Rent aside, there’s also a problem of distance. After I transferred to MSU from Lansing Community College, my commute lengthened from 30 minutes to 60 — I walk 25 minutes just to get to the Downtown Lansing/Meridian bus route.

Between classes and work, I don’t have a chance to return home. Until I’m done for the day, I live on campus or in The State News’ office.

Then there’s the social aspect. My world has switched from Lansing to East Lansing.

Although I once spent my time at Gone Wired Cafe, 2021 E. Michigan Ave., I now waste away in the basement of the Union. When I go out I need a place to crash or enough cash on hand to catch a cab home.

That being said, there are a few things I still enjoy in Lansing. Frandor, Eastwood Towne Center and the Lansing Mall (obviously) are not too far from my house. The two best movie theaters, Celebration and NCG Cinemas, are in Lansing.

Lansing has a kick-ass music scene. Mac’s Bar, Green Door Blues Bar & Grill, The Corner Bar and Basement 414 have good local bands playing on any given night. The annual festivals such as Common Ground, the Old Town BluesFest and JazzFest draw major (if occasionally washed-up) bands.

Hell, I live with a member of the Cartridge Family and the City Pulse’s music columnist.

The makeup of the people is eclectic. The mix of the governmental, manufacturing and education sectors gives Lansing a natural social diversity.

My parents, for example, live on Jerome Street, two blocks from Lansing’s Sparrow Hospital, and share a neighborhood with upper-class as well as working-class families, immigrants and a mixture of graduate and undergraduate students.

I expect to see people sitting on their porches and striking up conversations with people walking by.

I’m not saying East Lansing isn’t friendly; students sit on their porches and “engage” the public on a regular basis. East Lansing, even in family neighborhoods, lacks a close-knit neighborhood feel. As for the students, we’re all aware we’ve been thrown together for a finite amount of time. The good will around here only extends as far as the last party of the year.

For all the neighborhood camaraderie, there is a marked lack of people in downtown Lansing after 6 p.m. There are six bars in a three-block span and it’s still possible to walk down the middle of the street safely. That’s sad.

On the bright side, if you’re stumbling down the middle of Michigan Avenue at 6:30 p.m. — and, really, who hasn’t? — you’ll find the Lansing Police Department is much easier to deal with than their East Lansing counterparts.

Lansing, in a nutshell, has a city feel to it. There are parks, museums, zoos, comic book stores, clubs, strip clubs, fine dining, public gardens and even quaint coffee shops.

The city offers a wide range of entertainment for almost every age group. I admit it is refreshing to live in a place where the world doesn’t feel like it revolves around the bar scene.

Be that as it may, I find I miss seeing students all over the place. In East Lansing, I am among my peers. Lansing doesn’t have tailgating in the fall, sunbathers in the summer and the occasional spring riot.

East Lansing, to me, plays the rowdy, hard-drinking younger brother to Lansing’s toned-down professional. It’s pleasant after a long day of school, work and other not-so-respectable activities to retire to my quaint abode in a forgotten corner of north Lansing to recuperate.

But after a little rest and relaxation, East Lansing is where I go to live.

Home is, after all, where the heart is.