Hype for the Future 61F: Places of Liberation for novaTopFlex

Preamble

The novaTopFlex Three Identities maintain cultural values such as freedom of choice in connection and freedom of movement domestically. With the appropriate documentation and other features, for obvious legal security reasons and logistics, these values can be provided in various regions across the globe, including parallel societies with similar values.

Countries and Regions

novaTopFlex has identified several locales within the United States and Canada as matching energies and personal and cultural values, including, but not limited to, liberation from scripted roles and freedom of identity and expression. In the United States, the identified regions are New England, Chicagoland, the Twin Cities, and the Pacific Northwest, though the Mid-Atlantic and Front Range areas also have similarly shared values. For Canada, such regions include (from east to west) Newfoundland, the Maritimes, the Eastern Townships of Québec (including modern Estrie and regions now identified as Centre-du-Québec and Montérégie), the Greater Toronto area, and the Pacific Northwest extending into British Columbia. Pockets of the City of Montréal may also be suitable to the values and cultural preferences of novaTopFlex, though Canada as a whole often supports freedom of identity and expression to a significantly greater extent than the United States.

Hype for the Future 61B: The Graduate Schools of the Claremont Colleges

Introduction

Apart from Pomona, Scripps, Claremont McKenna, Harvey Mudd, and Pitzer Colleges, the Claremont College Consortium also hosts the grad schools of the Claremont Graduate School and the Keck Graduate Institute, though the latter is on a separate campus from all the other institutions in Claremont, California.

Hype for the Future 60E: The Claremont College System

Location

Unlike the Five College Consortium, located entirely in Hampshire County, Massachusetts, albeit on separate and noncontiguous campuses, the Claremont Colleges are located in Claremont in the extreme eastern section of Los Angeles County, California. Five colleges are located within the Claremont College Consortium, including Pomona College, Scripps College, Claremont McKenna College, Harvey Mudd College, and Pitzer College. Two graduate schools are also located within, though one of the grad schools is actually located separately from the main campus area.

Accommodations

Like the Five Colleges in Hampshire County, the Claremont Colleges allow opportunities for cross-campus socializing as well as fluidity of movement. While cross-enrollment may not be as fluid as in the Five Colleges, the Claremont Colleges offer similar services to the Five Colleges albeit in the West Coast region of the United States in Southern California (SoCal).

Overlap with the Six Colleges

Within the Claremont Colleges, Pomona College is often associated with the Five Colleges’ Amherst College, though also with Bowdoin, Carleton, Swarthmore, and Williams Colleges. These colleges effectively represent the Six Colleges, with Amherst being included in the cluster with Hampshire, Mount Holyoke, Smith, and UMass Amherst and Bowdoin being in the cluster with Colby and Bates also in its State of Maine.

Hype for the Future 60/284: LGBTQIA+ Social Ekistics

Preamble

novaTopFlex has, for many years, been taught that the friendships and other social connections of today have been understood as impossible per societal expectation. While the teachings were appropriate for the early years for sure, the ultimate reality is very different with the social life of novaTopFlex, with not one, nor two, but Three Identities.

Introduction

In the lesbian, gay, queer, trans, bi, queer/questioning, and aroace community, as well as otherwise non-normative communities (and not just for gender or sexuality), individuals and groups have often relied on public appearance in order to minimize potential sources of confusion. Long-distance relationships are often integral to LGBTQIA+ life, especially as political differences can result in social ostracism in many home cities and towns, especially in the Southern United States.

Ekistics

Within the LGBTQIA+ community, political backgrounds are essential in addition to specific population densities and types of settlements. Though density can indeed increase visibility and, paradoxically, anonymity, the population size is often what matters more than the population density. Ultimately, however, the primary factor in LGBTQIA+ lifestyles is the political background of each community, thus the prominence of communities of modest size—between 25,000 and 99,999 residents. Urban cores are often preferred, along with urban clusters, while suburbia 🏘️, especially in its modern form, is often hostile to non-normative lifestyles and enforces gender and sexuality stereotypes by design.

Unfortunately, the economic system of the modern United States of America results in the privatization of the lives of the LGBTQIA+ community, as well as their further marginalization by the federal, state, and local governments across the nation. Ironically, for every attack on trans rights in conservative areas and societies, predominantly in the South, the Northern states are often either unscathed or oriented toward celebration and the continued occurrence of Pride events. Though Pride events can often feel performative in much of the nation, such events in truly walkable cities and towns, especially downtown (where such communities are typically the most walkable), genuine performances can occur without questioning at an extensive level.

Political Influence

Regarding the situation with politics, the LGBTQIA+ community is dependent on progressives and progressive policies, often for the purpose of survival, as right-leaning communities are often dangerous for the political leanings of the subcultural population of the community. Pride flags may be taken down, and occasionally otherwise forbidden, in such communities; however, in more liberal and progressive-leaning communities, many of the same actions can often be celebrated instead.

In general, the political leanings most conducive to nonconforming gender and sexuality identities are physically located in only a handful of regions within the United States of America, occasionally related to elite colleges and universities, but often in larger areas and in specific regions of the nation. Usually, the areas most likely to be considered include the Northeast Megalopolis, especially New England, as well as the areas further west into upper New York, Michigan, Wisconsin, and even throughout Minnesota. Of the aforementioned regions, communities in Massachusetts, Vermont, Maine, and Minnesota can often stand out, albeit for different historical reasons.

Most Likely to Support LGBTQIA+ People 🏳️‍🌈

The following regions are the most likely contenders (areas especially unlikely to result in fear of judgment in bold; and this is not an exhaustive list):

• Maine
  • Bar Harbor
  • Vinalhaven
  • Monhegan
  • North Haven
  • Rockland
  • Portland
  • Bangor
  • Orono (home of the University of Maine)
  • Ellsworth
  • Brunswick (home of Bowdoin College)
  • Skowhegan
  • Farmington (home of the University of Maine-Farmington)
• New Hampshire
  • Durham (home of the University of New Hampshire)
  • Keene (home of Keene State College)
  • Plymouth (home of Plymouth State University)
  • Nashua
  • Manchester
  • Concord
  • Laconia
• Vermont
  • Burlington (home of the University of Vermont)
  • Castleton
  • Lyndon
  • Johnson
  • Randolph
  • Brattleboro
  • Bellows Falls (Rockingham)
  • Hartford
  • Springfield
  • Saint Johnsbury
  • Saint Albans
  • Rutland
  • Bennington (home of Bennington College)
  • Middlebury (home of Middlebury College)
• Massachusetts
  • Boston — all neighborhoods
  • Cambridge (home of Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology)
  • Somerville (home of part of Tufts University)
  • Medford (home of the other part of Tufts University)
  • Waltham (home of Bentley University)
  • Chelmsford
  • Billerica
  • Lexington
  • Concord
  • Salem (home of Salem State University)
  • Framingham (home of Framingham State University)
  • Fitchburg (home of Fitchburg State University)
  • Worcester (home of Worcester State University)
  • Bridgewater (home of Bridgewater State University)
  • Westfield (home of Westfield State University)
  • North Adams (home to the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts and the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art)
  • Williamstown (home to Williams College and the Clark Art Institute)
  • Pittsfield
  • Great Barrington
  • Springfield (home to American International College and Western New England University)
  • Longmeadow (home to traditionally-female Bay Path University)
  • Holyoke
  • Chicopee (home to College of Our Lady of the Elms)
  • Amherst (home to Amherst College, Hampshire College, and University of Massachusetts Amherst)
  • Greenfield
  • Deerfield
  • Sturbridge
  • Provincetown
  • Northampton (home of all-female Smith College)
  • South Hadley (home of Mount Holyoke College)
  • Hadley
  • Ware
  • Peabody
  • Newbury
  • Newburyport
  • Gloucester
  • Ipswich
  • Lowell (home of University of Massachusetts Lowell)
  • Dartmouth (home of University of Massachusetts Dartmouth)
  • Nantucket
  • Edgartown
  • Shrewsbury
  • Shutesbury
  • Northfield
  • New Bedford
  • Fall River
  • Attleboro
  • Seekonk
  • Swansea
• Rhode Island
  • Providence (home to Rhode Island College and Brown University)
  • Newport
  • Warwick
  • New Shoreham (Block Island)
• Connecticut
  • New Haven (home of Yale University and Southern Connecticut State University)
  • Danbury (home of Western Connecticut State University)
  • New Britain (home of Central Connecticut State University)
  • Willimantic (home of Eastern Connecticut State University)
  • New London
  • Storrs/Mansfield (home to the University of Connecticut)
  • Torrington
  • Waterbury
  • Fairfield (home of Fairfield College)
  • Bridgeport
  • Stamford
  • Stratford
  • Milford
  • Guilford
  • Branford
  • Madison
  • Greenwich
  • Darien
  • New Canaan
  • Norwalk
• New York
  • New York City (select neighborhoods in all boroughs)
  • Yonkers
  • White Plains
  • Rye
  • Riverhead
  • Southampton
  • Fire Island Pines
  • Montauk
  • Orient
  • Poughkeepsie
  • Albany
  • Schenectady
  • Troy
  • Rensselaer
  • Saranac Lake
  • Tupper Lake
  • Lake Placid
  • Kingston
  • Coxsackie
  • Buffalo
  • Rochester
  • Syracuse
  • Ithaca (home of Cornell University)
  • Binghamton
  • Elmira
• New Jersey
  • Newark
  • Jersey City
  • Paterson
  • Elizabeth
  • Hackensack
  • New Brunswick (home of Rutgers University)
  • Princeton (home of Princeton University)
  • Trenton
  • Camden
• Pennsylvania
  • Philadelphia
  • West Chester
  • Media
  • Doylestown
  • Norristown
  • Allentown
  • Easton
  • Wilkes-Barre
  • Scranton
  • Pittsburgh
  • State College (home of Pennsylvania State University-Main Campus)
• Delaware
  • Wilmington
  • Dover
• Maryland
  • Elkton
  • Havre de Grace
  • Bel Air
  • Baltimore
  • Annapolis
• Michigan
  • South Haven
  • Saugatuck
  • Douglas
  • Holland
  • Grand Haven
  • Grand Rapids
  • Lansing
  • Ann Arbor
  • Ypsilanti
• Ohio
  • Oberlin
  • Columbus
  • Cleveland
  • Akron
  • Canton
• Indiana
  • Indianapolis
• Illinois
  • Chicago
  • Aurora
  • Naperville
  • Joliet
  • Woodstock
  • Waukegan
  • Wheaton
  • Rockford
  • Peoria
  • Bloomington
  • Champaign
  • Urbana
• Wisconsin
  • Milwaukee
  • Kenosha
  • Racine
  • Waukesha
  • Madison
  • Wausau
  • Rhinelander
  • Green Bay
  • La Crosse
  • Eau Claire
  • Oshkosh
  • Appleton
  • Hudson
  • Fond du Lac
  • Sturgeon Bay
  • Manitowoc
  • Ashland
  • Bayfield
• Minnesota
  • Minneapolis
  • Saint Paul
  • Northfield (home of Carleton College and Saint Olaf College)
• Washington
  • Seattle
  • Tacoma
  • Renton
  • Everett
  • Mount Vernon
  • Bremerton
  • Olympia
  • Vancouver (WA)
• Oregon
  • Portland
  • Astoria
  • Salem
  • Eugene
  • Roseburg
• California
  • Crescent City
  • Sacramento
  • San José
  • San Francisco
  • Redding
  • Claremont (surrounded by the Los Angeles area to the west and the Inland Empire to the east—both hostile; home to Pomona College and the Claremont Colleges at large)

Hype for the Future 59M: The Three Major Deserts of the United States

Mojave Desert 🏜️

The furthest west of the major deserts located within the United States of America, the Mojave Desert is primarily located within the State of California and is famed as home to both the Inland Empire region and Death Valley National Park further north. While much of Nevada is also considered desert, the mountainous terrain of the State of Nevada is actually considered separate from the Mojave (or Mohave) as it is considered a cold desert.

Sonoran Desert 🌵

The Sonoran Desert is famed for being associated with the Greater Phoenix and nearby Tucson areas, though the latter is more or less in a transition zone between the Sonoran and Chihuahuan Desert zones. Both deserts are associated with the southern and more populated areas within the State of Arizona; however, the Sonoran Desert covers the vast majority of the region with the Chihuahuan exclusively located at the eastern end of the State approaching New Mexico.

Chihuahuan Desert

The furthest east of the major American deserts, the Chihuahuan Desert is associated with the southern portion of the State of New Mexico, far to the south of Albuquerque and in the general areas nearer Las Cruces and even El Paso, Texas. The extreme western portion of the State of Texas where the Chihuahuan Desert occurs is within the Mountain Time Zone, one hour behind nearly all other land area in the State and following the same time zone as the State of New Mexico to the north.

International Border

Within the Sonoran and Chihuahuan Deserts alike are international border crossings, which may unfortunately continue to create tensions into the modern day, specifically between the United States 🇺🇸 and neighboring Mexico 🇲🇽. The States of Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas are located on the American side of the border, while the States of Sonora and Chihuahua are located on the Mexican side. Also related to the Sonoran Desert is the Gulf of California, though Baja California is not considered included within the area.

Hype for the Future 59L: Why novaTopFlex is Reluctant to Travel to Death Valley

Introduction 🏜️ 🏞️

Death Valley National Park is located in the midst of the desert area well into the Californian interior, associated with eastern San Bernardino County and adjacent counties. Located within Death Valley are hostile conditions and the advisory to turn off all air conditioning and get exposed to the extreme heat during the entirety of the visit. Unfortunately, being forced to visit a place in global warming and other climate change consequences is inherently unethical, so the idea of novaTopFlex traveling to Death Valley seems unsustainable for the obvious aforementioned regions. Interestingly, by the way, Death Valley 🏜️ also has an emoji dedicated to the specific area in the interior of California and the Mojave Desert.

Hype for the Future 59K: Pomona College

California

Pomona College is located within the Pomona Valley of extreme eastern Los Angeles County, California, in the United States of America. Located specifically within Claremont, California, the college campus is outward-facing, with both the Los Angeles area to the west and the Inland Empire area to the east. Cultural sites and museums, though not of historical significance as obvious given the modern suburbanization epidemic, are also of relevance to the region, with many of such museums of different topics operated by colleges and universities to serve the surrounding areas and communities.

Hype for the Future 59I: Amherst, Bowdoin, Carleton, Pomona, Swarthmore, Williams

Locations

The Six Colleges of prestigious liberal arts are scattered throughout much of the United States, with locations in Massachusetts, Maine, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, and California. Two of the colleges—Amherst and Williams—are located in Massachusetts, though Amherst is located further east in the Pioneer Valley and Williams further west in the region known as the Berkshires. Bowdoin is located nearby to Portland in the community known as Brunswick, Maine, slightly north and approaching the Rockland area. Swarthmore is located within the Swarthmore community and the Greater Philadelphia area, while Carleton and Pomona are located elsewhere in the United States, significantly outside the Northeastern United States and the Northeast Megalopolis.

Pomona is located in the Los Angeles area nearby to Pomona in the community of Claremont, California, on the opposite side of the nation from the five other listed institutions. Even Carleton is a significant distance west from the Northeast Megalopolis, located in the low-key area known as Northfield, Minnesota, somewhat to the south of the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul.

Hype for the Future 42/284: Locations of the Six Colleges

The Six Colleges, referring to flagship liberal arts colleges, are Amherst, Bowdoin, Carleton, Pomona, Swarthmore, and Williams. Only Massachusetts contains multiple locations, with Williams at the extreme northwest and Amherst somewhat to the east and southeast. Bowdoin is also located within the New England region; however, the college is located in Brunswick, Maine, midway up the East Coast within the State. Swarthmore is located similarly near the East Coast; however, the college is located in the Mid-Atlantic region, in a western suburban area associated with Philadelphia known as Swarthmore. Carleton and Pomona are outliers, where Carleton is located in Northfield, Minnesota, and Pomona in Claremont, California.