The World Beyond BetterMost > The Culture Tent
In the New Yorker...
Jeff Wrangler:
--- Quote from: serious crayons on January 19, 2023, 12:24:20 pm ---Maybe, although I've always thought Minneapolis and Denver were pretty similar, culturally. But what I said about Minneapolis contrasts would be true of other cities I'm familiar with: New York (Upper West Side vs. the Bronx), Chicago (South Side vs. the Gold Coast), L.A. (Compton vs. Santa Monica), New Orleans (St. Charles Avenue vs. Desire Housing Project). The differences are racial and socioeconomic of course but they're also different in terms of culture, values, lifestyle, tastes, hopes and dreams, etc.
Sorry, I don't mean to be so argumentative :), I'm just struck by the dissimilarity of our takes on this.
--- End quote ---
You can certainly say the same for Philadelphia. The people who live around Rittenhouse Square (condos in the millions) are quite different from the people who live in deep South Philadelphia or in some of the neighborhoods north and northeast of Center City. I expect the people who live around Rittenhouse Square have more in common with the Upper West Side of Manhattan than with South Philadelphia.
serious crayons:
And of course there's economic diversity in small towns and rural areas, too -- the house on the hill vs the other side of the tracks, the bank president vs the factory worker. But the difference is that because they're living in smaller towns or less populated areas, they're more likely to know each other, to have gone to the same schools, to know of the same prominent citizens, to share a local history. Of course, residents of Small Town A don't share all those things with residents of Small Town B 100 miles away. But people in both places typically know what it's like to live in a small town, may have similar recreational activities, probably are familiar with similar businesses and institutions. Small town businesses are pretty basic: grocery stores, banks, thrift shops, clinics and hospitals (sometimes), and so on. They don't as typically have IT startups, major malls, theaters, tourist places, art museums, foodie restaurants, bookstores, daily newspapers ...
Jeff Wrangler:
Well, I was born in a small town
And I live in a small town
Probably die in a small town
Oh, those small communities.
--John Mellencamp
;D
Front-Ranger:
In speaking about city dwellers, I wasn't thinking about suburbs, exurbs, and gated bastions. People who live there are possibly even more isolated than the other two groups. Places like Fifth Avenue and such are off my radar screen. Those people tend to be older, and I'm really not tuned in to their homogeneity or lack thereof.
But here in Denver we just had more than 20,000 people at our annual MLK "Marade" which is both a march and a parade. We also have big celebrations for the Day of the Dead and Cinco de Mayo. Our governor is gay. Many neighborhoods are becoming more diverse or being gentrified, whichever way you want to look at it. You can easily get gender-affirming treatment or an abortion, for example. More and more places are bi- or trilingual. Our performing arts center, which has won an Emmy for best regional arts, has been a champion of Black playwrights and BIPOC actors and dancers, and the audiences have grown more diverse.
The local media have done series on the problems in rural areas and many of the institutions that brought people together are dying out. Many people, particularly older ones, are isolated and younger people are leaving some of the rural communities.
Front-Ranger:
I was wondering if we could come up with a list of the criteria for a good "Shouts & Murmurs". I'll start. 1) It should contain references to weird current happenings the way "Wait, Wait Don't Tell Me" does. 2) It should not be heavy, hammy, or over-the-top. Well, it can go over the top, but just at the end. 3) It should expose an irony, absurdity, or folly. 4) Setting a current situation in another time or place is okay, but that shouldn't be all the piece does.
Oops, I meant to just lead with one or two examples. It strikes me that this topic might make the basis for a good S&M!
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