Steve,

The lack of social ease and public intelligence in the US has always stood out vividly in contrast to the seemingly effortless way it occurs in other places I've been - thinking particularly of Italy and Mexico, but many others as well. Various factors - from ethnic familiarity and cultural homogeneity to an appreciation of history and a respect for the public - seem to enter into creating this warm and convivial space. In Mexico City, I was struck by the exhibits of Aztec artifacts and modern photography in the corridors of the subway. My experience of New York's version, growing up there in the 60s etc., offered somewhat different "exhibits," and the public was more or less a sort of effluvia poured through a cavernous ceramic latrine.

Tom

Edited by author 07-25-2002 12:29 AM
Tom, you must be one of those ideal people I'm talking about. Let's have lunch.

Kurt Brobeck synchroblogs about a shortage of vacation time in the US, something I've been painfully aware of for awhile. Maybe that's what's behind this. Plentiful leisure seems to be something that Paul and Joe have in common, anyway (those bastards!).

I think both you and Kurt have a point there. It's not that the vacation causes civility - if anything, the opposite. But the priorities are, well, other.

As for lunch, why not? In Prague, if possible? Always wanted to go there anyway...

Vacation is one thing, but the way we're encouraged to use our non-vacation time is also a problem. There's a notion that The American Dream is to buy a big house and build a fence around it, and the more isolated you become the more successful you are. Like William Randolph Hearst, I guess. To succeed is to leave urban areas, or areas with a population density that encourages you to meet your neighbors or spend time in local businesses. I think there are some real connections between the feelings of isolation many people share these days, and the hollowness that has been revealed at the core of our 1990s speed-hangover. Likewise, smarter development might do a lot to encourage us to rethink our approaches to work/nonwork time and community and fostering social relationships. At least I like to think so.

Edited by author 07-26-2002 03:59 PM
Tom, on your comment I'm seriously looking at Prague as a potential vacation spot. I'll keep you posted :-) We can agree that valuing leisure time with family and friends and civility go hand in hand.

Steve, I like what you say about smarter development. Urban planning needs vast improvement here in the US. Walkable social spaces are a key factor. (I once read an article comparing San Fransicso's waterfront planning with Boston's mostly lack thereof. I hope we do better following the Big Dig.) Urban planning's goals can run contrary to pure market-based development, so maybe that's why it hasn't been achieved nearly enough. European cities grew in a very different time, and even our oldest US cities are more favorable to community. Automobile overuse is the main culprit in urban sprawl. I'm sure there are numerous good papers and book about this. We certainly need less thinking like this (don't get too worked up, the guy's apparently a trolling artist).

kuhn75 Hey, there is what you need.

Hey, there is what you need.

SZ5f7z A number of universities have awarded her honorary degrees, and she earned a prestigious job on the staff of Detroit congressman John Conyers. In 1988 Roxanne Brown noted: "Thirty-two years after she attracted international attention for sparking the Montgomery Bus Boycott, Mrs. Parks's ardent devotion to human rights still burns brightly, like a well-tended torch that ignites her spirit and calls her to service whenever she is needed."