Ernest Hooper has an interesting column on Friday titled: "Souless Suburbia"
"Soulless.
Time and again, the word is used to characterize life in suburbia, and I can only ask one question: Why the hate?"
"My life and my community - and it is a community - isn't defined by old-fashioned houses, kitschy clothing shops or sidewalk cafes. Sure, most every house in my neighborhood is beige, and my home's design has been repeated at least 150 times in the area
"My advice: Judge me not by the color of my home, but by the colorful personalities of my neighbors."
"The appeal of suburbia is built on simple pleasures and a slower life"
It will be interesting to see if life in Lutz is the same as he describes Seffner. I suspect that it sometimes takes longer in suburbia to find the colorful personalities that it does in the City. In the City these personalities jump in your face. Partly I think it is the design of the houses in suburbia, with garages and backyard patios. You spend more time out front in the City and thus it is easier to meet people.
I have seen glimses of colorful possiblities as we have driven into Windemere for the past weeks. There is a neighbor who had a bar in his garage, that occasionally people group around. There are people eating a meal in their garage. There is a neighbor who always have his garage open and is doing something there everytime I drive by and who has waved at me many of the times.
3 comments:
Can't wait to hear more stories about your neighbors and house. It will keep you both close. We miss you here in the 'hood.
Dull, Isolation, Homogeny, Mainstream, Cookie-Cutter. These are words that come to mind when I think of the suburbs. There is a certain disconnect that the car culture and all those strip stores and TV brings. It could be anywhere.
I don't believe anyone would call us dull or homogenous and we live in Lutz.
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