> On Tuesday, August 12, 2003, at 09:40 PM, joand315 wrote:
>
>> I like city life too, it's not nearly as insular as suburban life,
>> that's for sure, but I used those examples to show that opportunities
>> to express solidarity abound.
>
>
> Not the kind of solidarity that will build a new society. Little Leagues
> are a lot of fun for the kids, but they are thoroughly capitalist
> organizations.
This community once had Little League but thought it was too competitive, so modified the rules a bit and formed their own youth baseball organization. We don't compete with neighboring towns, but just have fun. Everyone takes a turn cleaning the fields, manning the refreshment booth, bringing snacks. It's a non-profit organization run by a volunteer board, and a lot of volunteer labor, members of the community, our next door neighbors, so to speak.
In my experience, most suburbanites are so isolated in
> their beautiful nuclear family homes, surrounded by their beautiful
> lawns and gardens, that they really don't get the daily experience of
> living in close community. That's why the experience at my son's school
> I related impressed me so much -- the whole idea of a pot-luck (a
> simple, ordinary form of community) was apparently so foreign to them
> that it never occurred to them to hold one, even when it was a perfect
> opportunity. If they had made it a pot-luck, what would they have done
> -- traded slices of their pizzas with each other?
I marvel at the quality of suburbs where you live. I am surrounded by some of the poorest suburbs in America, so I have perhaps a different experience.
> And don't get me started on suburbanites' violent rejection of any idea
> of sharing their wealth with their darker-skinned sisters and brothers
> in the inner cities via taxation or by supporting regional mass transit,
> etc., even though their suburbs wouldn't even exist without the economic
> basis provided by the cities.
We have a regional Metra here. It's hard to get the wealthier suburbs to share with the poorer suburbs, let alone the city, that's for sure. I hope you are not indulging in too much of a stereotype though, because the suburb in which I live enjoys a wealthy minority population of about 20%, who have plenty of opportunities to share with their former neighbors and churches back in the city. Buddy Guy used to live here. Kendall Gill lives here. It's not your usual white bread suburb. My son has plenty of opportunities to enjoy diversity.
>> I'm an incrementalist. (I stole that from Howard Dean, but it's pretty
>> descriptive of me, anyway.) One step at a time.
> Given the present impracticality of revolution, so am I. But it makes a
> difference in which direction you're making the steps. :-)
To the left, I hope. -joan
> Jon Johanning // jjohanning at igc.org
> __________________________________
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