amike's picture

    A Short, HIGHLY unscientific survey.

    I while back I wrote a piece about how the American Dream has bifurcated into a Horatio Alger version and a Martin Luther King version, and how the Alger version had led to a segregation by social class which made the King vision more difficult.  I'm thinking about following up with another piece on geographic mobility--but before I do, I'm curious whether anyone is interested, and what kind of experiences TPM readers have had.  At the core of idea is a book entitled Next Stop, Reloville: Life Inside America's New Rootless Professional Class, which I found fascinating, at least in part because I've been aspects of the book with new students for about fifteen years, more or less.  Each fall, I ask the freshmen these questions:

    1. How many houses have you lived in during your lifetime?
    2. How many schools have you attended?
    3. How many different cities have you lived in during your lifetime?
    4. How many different states?
    5. How many different countries?
    6. How did your various moves effect your life?

    Now I'd like to ask those who are willing to reply to this very unscientific little survey to do so before the post disappears into never-never land.  I'll try to incorporate ideas from the responses into my Reloville meditation.

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