dagblog - Comments for "My Neighborhood, Times Two"

This: "They have petty

Historiann — Mon, 26 Aug 2013 12:31:02 +0000

In reply to My Neighborhood, Times Two

This: "They have petty crime; you need to lock your doors, you shouldn't leave valuables in the car, and you shouldn't believe that everyone buttonholing you on the street is telling you their real story."

In what neighborhood *should* leave the doors unlocked and valuables in the car? Maybe it's my years of living in big cities, but even in my little town on the plains, I snap those deadbolts as soon as I walk in the house. I don't think it's a bad habit. The worst crime/home invasion we've experienced is a bike and some athletic gear that rolled/walked away on a warm night when WE LEFT THE GARAGE DOOR OPEN LIKE IDIOTS. Also: there's a learning-disabled child who has been known to walk into the house without knocking or ringing.

I appreciate your post on this as someone who lives in William Penn's idea of a "Greene Countrey Towne" that so-called liberals who don't live here like to believe is full of "Latino gangs." They have gangs in Boulder and Fort Collins too, but the folks there like to believe that my more working-class town is a scary, scary place.

Donald Trump, a threat to

jollyroger — Fri, 23 Aug 2013 00:56:30 +0000

In reply to That's not off my topic;

Donald Trump, a threat to orange tabby's worldwide. He doesn't wash his ~~hair~~ wig, he just skins a new cat..

That's not off my topic;

artappraiser — Thu, 22 Aug 2013 22:18:34 +0000

In reply to o/t: I always love the part

That's not off my topic; don't know about the Doc's.

'mericans are the ones that started the fad of taking that old furniture and making it look brand spanking new! Proud of their labor scraping and stripping, making it look like it just came from the store! And it's not just old country vs. new country issues we can talk about here. There's major class issues too. If you look at the inside photos of Jackie O's Fifth Avenue apartment, for example, you see those old moldings with many layers of paint and the scratches and knicks on the furniture. Yes, we're talking aristocratic taste here vs. nouveau riches. And what's 'merica about if it's not proudly nouveau riche?

Hence: the recent phenom of "shabby chic." Martha Stewart is partly responsible for the noveau riches getting all confused about whether to like things shabby aristo or not. Probably should throw a bone to "Antiques Roadshow" on this as well. However, I must point out one audience motivation that got them such high ratings: find treasure in grandma's attic, win jackpot by selling old dumpy thing to dumb rich person who likes old dumpy things! I'd rather give more points on this front, though, to "This Old House." But there we should also remember that that show's popularity was overthrown by "buy it, fix it to look like new, and flip it in 30 days" shows a few years back.

Next up, we can talk Donald Trump and his taste in residential architecture and home decoration...

o/t: I always love the part

jollyroger — Thu, 22 Aug 2013 21:13:38 +0000

In reply to As someone from the world of

o/t: I always love the part of the roadshow where they show the face of the appraisee as the expert says "had you not cleaned it, it would be valued in excess of six figures. as it is, I would say perhaps $500.00"

As someone from the world of

artappraiser — Thu, 22 Aug 2013 19:09:48 +0000

In reply to My Neighborhood, Times Two

As someone from the world of antiques, I suspect you misinterpreted that comment you heard. Though no harm, no foul, because it got you ruminating on all kinds of interesting things!

Still, I'd like to ramble a bit on what I suspect he was talking about. The "dumpy" thing is how a lot of Americans think of the patina of age on old things (more so in the past than now,) the patina that antique lovers love. This is a thing about American culture (mostly pre-Boomer, before "retro" this and that became much more popular) that was different from "the old country" is that many Americans prized brand spanking new stuff over that "old stuff." So in housing they preferred to rip out that ugly old claw foot bathtub like grandma had and put in a brand spanking new one!

I think he probably was thinking that, while the outside of the building is still impressive, the apartments probably have 80 layers of bumpy paint on the woodwork, worn out porcelain sinks, and creaky floor boards, and he prefers his brand spanking new suburban house, with sharp moldings, wall-to-wall carpeting and brand new tile grout. He has no idea that inside some of those apartments like yours, the kitchen was totally ripped out and replaced with the very same kind of brand spanking new granite counter from Home Depot that he has in his suburban home.

As someone who works in the world of antiques and art, it might surprise people to know that I am of not just two, but many minds on that part of American culture that prized new over old. One of the things that did was cause us to be the ones that are more accepting of changing styles, of innovation, modernization. You can historic preservation yourself to death if you're not discerning about what you preserve. (I.E., the American abstract expressionists were not about historic preservation, and they managed to start the process of stealing "the art capital of the world" label from France for the U.S.A. And you wouldn't have what is prized now as "mid century modern" furniture if people never threw away their old furniture because they thought it had become ugly.)

But to go back to housing styles....the preference for new over old got us in a position where our economy tanks every time people aren't buying new houses. And then there's cars. A Model T was fine for everyone at one time, for a long time, then we started that thing where the cars were different every year and you desired the new design. And don't get me started about fashion, because thankfully, we've finally gotten free of that thing where you have to throw out all your round-toed shoes from last year and buy new pointy-toed shoes. And then about that planned obsolescence thing...

Arlington's a bit of a mix,

Michael Wolraich — Thu, 22 Aug 2013 18:36:19 +0000

In reply to Don't go to Pepper Pike,

Arlington's a bit of a mix, great for those who like their urban experience suburbanized or vice-versa. I also hear that it's got more going on these days than it did in the 90s.

Don't go to Pepper Pike,

Doctor Cleveland — Thu, 22 Aug 2013 17:29:28 +0000

In reply to I grew up in Iowa City, which

Don't go to Pepper Pike, brother. It ain't worth it.

I think you're absolutely right that this mostly comes from the suburbs, and it's part of the way people justify both their personal decisions and the local class arrangements. There's a general pattern where people who are a few rungs further up the ladder have distorted, over-generalized ideas about the lower rungs.

I grew up far enough from Boston, in a small enough town, that we didn't have much Urban Derangement Syndrome. But what we got was centered on the traditionally black neighborhoods, which were often spoken about as terrifying Mad Max wastelands. Then again, most of the ex-mill-town where I went to high school got described that way too (because it was heavily Latino), and it was just a slightly scruffy, perfectly ordinary New England town.

I have friends in Arlington who love it, but maybe they've found a more urban lifestyle there. That said, I'll take your word.

Thanks, 'mona. I wasn't

Doctor Cleveland — Thu, 22 Aug 2013 17:23:12 +0000

In reply to Great post, Doc. You

Thanks, 'mona. I wasn't angry. My first response was to laugh at the guy, and my second was to go home and tell my wife so she could laugh at the guy.

I think the real problem is when those suburbanites let their cartoonish ideas about the Big Dirty City color their approaches to serious policy questions. If you long ago decided was a vast urban hellhole beyond saving, because you didn't bother to know anything about it, then when Detroit hits actual problems you can't process them. Rather than seeing the real, specific problems (some of which have real, specific solutions), those people just say, "See! That place is terrible!"

And I think, as Mike says below, this is strongest in suburbanites who disparage the city they orbit. People in Grosse Pointe talk about Detroit like it's the third circle of hell. But where would Grosse Pointe be without Detroit? What would Pepper Pike, Ohio be without Cleveland? It's ridiculous.

I grew up in Iowa City, which

Michael Wolraich — Thu, 22 Aug 2013 14:37:33 +0000

In reply to My Neighborhood, Times Two

I grew up in Iowa City, which is so small that it should perhaps be called Iowa Town. My friends and I didn't have Urban Derangement Syndrome. We were fascinated by big cities. They were exotic and exciting. A little scary, perhaps, but certainly not wastelands.

I only encountered UDS when I visited my cousins in the suburbs that orbited big cities. They spent their whole lives within an hour of downtown New York or Washington but rarely ventured in. Their parents commuted downtown for work in the morning and then departed directly in the evening, interacting only with office buildings, lunch delis, and fellow commuters.

I didn't understand their attitude or recognize it for what it was. When I moved to D.C. after college, my cousins discouraged me from living in the city on account of the danger. Not knowing any better, I took their advice and found an apartment in Arlington, Virginia. That's when I learned how vapid and soulless suburbs can be--even Arlington, so close to the city.

I have never lived in a suburb since, and I hope that I never will. Except maybe Pepper Pike because what a cool name?

Great post, Doc. You

Ramona — Thu, 22 Aug 2013 11:00:58 +0000

In reply to My Neighborhood, Times Two

Great post, Doc. You captured it perfectly. Urban neighborhoods are always misunderstood by outsiders, it seems. They do have their preconceived notions and nothing--not even physical evidence--is going to sway them.

As I read your piece I couldn't help but think of Detroit and how outsiders think of the neighborhoods there. There are some horrendous places in Detroit but your description of the apartment buildings where you live could just as well have been apartment buildings in certain parts of Motown. There are parts of any city where people, for various reasons, actually choose to live. They make it a community by appreciating it and protecting it and most of all, enjoying it.

When someone thinks of a place like Ann Arbor, home of the University of Michigan, they see visions of ivy covered buildings, quirky but cool shops, ethnic restaurants, shady streets with beautiful old houses, and a diversity of culture that can only enlighten and enthrall. It is all that but there are neighborhoods in Ann Arbor proper where you wouldn't want to walk at night and you certainly wouldn't be foolish enough to keep your doors unlocked, even during the day.

Your new move sounds exciting. Don't let the yahoos get you down. They don't know what they're missing.