Saturday, February 19

Community at Home

This first question today is actually yesterday's question. I spent the preparing my house for two babysitters to hang out at my house for hours and hours and hours and hours, so I didn't get a chance to post. Sorry about that. I'll post another question tonight, too.

Today's question comes from a category I've had since the beginning, but this is the first question to come out of it! The basis of society is built around communities, and most of us are members of multiple community groups: our family, our friends, our church, our book club or game group or whatever other hobby we do organization. These communities our either inherited (family) or optional (friends), and vary in size, scope, and dynamics. One group is both inherited and optional, and this is the community built around the simple geography of where you live. Whether it is the apartment building you live in or the neighborhood you carefully selected, the geography of your home forces a community on you, with members you couldn't have anticipated and people you almost certainly don't get along with. Today's question comes in two parts: How long have you lived in your current area? Do you want to move, or are you really enjoying the community that comes with your current residence?

5 comments:

  1. I've lived in magna for 20+ years of my life. I think it's truly an underrated community. I've lived in so called "nicer" neighborhoods and have had much more problems with neighbors and crime.

    I love that I'm walking distance from a local pizzeria, a local bakery, colossimo's store, a fun bar, and the new home of the library! Lucky lucky me!!

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  2. Lived here about 2 1/2 years and boy, does West Central get a lot of funk. I love it, anyway, cause I have a sexy house and a couple of great neighbors...and live near a bunch of state run halfway houses so I can sit on my porch and watch all sorts of excitement every Saturday night of the summer.

    The community that comes with our house isn't just the neighborhood, though, it's the people in the house. From toddlers and their fresh-from-rehab mothers to 40-somethings who are going back to school, we've had the whole run of people who fall through the cracks of society. That's where it gets interesting. It isn't a really close community until you share a fridge. Some days I like it more than others, but it really is nice to have the ability to help people get on their feet, even if it means you pay more rent than you planned on.

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  3. I like where I live but I would move back to my old town in a heartbeat, mainly because I have family there. Otherwise I am happy here. I have a job I love,an awesome LDS ward, a warm and cozy rental house, and the weather isn't all that different so far.

    My neighborhood itself is very quiet though it's within a mile of a popular grocery and within half mile of a major thoroughfare. I think it's mostly older people, homes built around 1947.

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  4. I've lived in this house for little over a year. We are trying to find a house and move out. Part of finding a house, is finding a neighborhood that has the community (be it ward, school or general environment) that makes us want to stay permanently.

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  5. Mine is a two part answer, because I have spent the last weeks living in an apartment in Punta Gorda, and in two weeks will be moving back into the house where I lived in Spokane, if there is still a room available. (I hope there will be.)
    In Punta Gorda, I was just starting to make friends with some of the locals and get to know people when it came time to leave. I am excited to be returning home to the States, but I have to admit there will be people and places in Punta Gorda that I will miss. No friends that are close enough to really stay in touch with, though.
    In Spokane, I lived there from the end of August until mid-January, and I was too self-involved and campus-involved to really get to know any of the neighbors in my immediate neighborhood. My community there is more centered around Gonzaga University, specifically the business school and the Face AIDS group, soon to be changed to Gonzaga AIDS Prevention & Awareness (GAPA). I have missed more friends than I realized I had, and look forward to my imminent return.

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