I’ve just moved from Houston, TX, to a very small town in New Jersey.  Very.  Small.  (It’s so small that I don’t even want to say what town it is.)

How small is small, you ask?  It’s about 1.5 square miles big.  The closest Target and movie theater are about a 30 minute drive away.  Local restaurants are closed on Mondays.  The Walmart and grocery store down the road close at 10 p.m.  The lounge at the local Holiday Inn seems to have the most jumping nightlife.

But that’s not the really bad part. 

The disconcerting part, for me, is that there is almost no one here who looks like me.  I’ve officially become an other.

I’m used to living in big cities - Atlanta, D.C., Houston - very culturally diverse places.  You couldn’t go 10 feet in any direction without running into someone with a different ethnicity or cultural background.  I now live in a town with a population of 2,600.  According to the latest census data, about 35 of those 2,600 are Black.

I have seen looks of shock on people’s faces when I walk into a store.  I have seen the look on small children’s faces as they stare at this brown-skinned girl walking amongst the pale small-town New Jersey landscape.  I would not be surprised if they had never seen anyone who looked like me - or more specifically, someone who did not look like them.  I’m officially a rarity.

It’s been a long time since I’ve felt like an outsider.  Oh, and did I mention that I don’t know a soul here?  How will I navigate this new existence?  Frequent trips to New York City, which is about an hour away?  Trips further down the east coast to see family and friends?  We shall see.  Stay tuned to find out.