Hmm. I suppose it was for some people. There were two grade schools that combined when we all reached 7th grade -- the Concord (pop. 200 then) and the Arenzville kids (300ish) and Chapin (I want to say maybe 500 -- quite a metropolis!) I lived in Concord. I never fit in and from a young age, made plans to relocate to NYC as soon as I was 18. Ha! I've never made it out of Illinois and have mostly lived in relatively small cities -- but not THAT small. I still live in a red town, but there are plenty of liberal people here, fortunately. I don't keep up with anybody from my high school. With the exception of at my sister's funeral in 2022, I haven't seen any of my old classmates in a very long time, and I don't really care to. I came alive in college. That's where my oldest friends came from.