On Sunday, August 10, 2003, at 12:58 PM, R a y m o n d R o r k e wrote:
> William H. Magill wrote:
>> There are only two personality types, Urban and Suburban.
>
> wot about us rural types? who live in the city without having had the
> urban or suburban experience?
>
> when I first came to philly from the mountains of central pa, I was
> amazed. I was amazed that people didn't know the names of the trees on
> their streets. I was amazed that spruce street had no spruce trees,
> pine street had no pines, chestnut no chestnuts and cherry no
> cherries. I was amazed that you couldn't see stars at night. I was
> amazed that there were trains underground. I was amazed that
> everything was so nearby, and that people drove their cars to get
> there. I was amazed by the amount of lights left on all night. I was
> amazed that people felt unsafe. I was amazed that people weren't
> constantly greeting each other on the sidewalks. I was amazed that
> people locked their doors. I was amazed that people didn't like their
> neighbor's music, that they'd paint only their side of a porch column.
> I was amazed that people owned things they couldn't fix, dogs they
> couldn't control. I was amazed that people's idea of property was a
> house but not a yard. I was amazed that people grew flowers where they
> could've grown vegetables. I was amazed that people bought so much,
> and threw so much away. I was amazed that people didn't always live
> with their grandparents. I was amazed that anyone would care what kind
> of porch swing you sat in. I was amazed that people could go on
> assuming things about their neighbors without ever meeting them or
> inviting them over for supper or helping to deliver their calves. I
> was amazed by everything. still am.
I don't differentiate between Suburban and Rural -- because everything
you describe is what Suburbanites claim is what differentiates them
from Urban peoples.
And the rural folks I know see no difference between Suburban and Urban
areas -- because what you describe is applied by them to Suburban and
Urban dwellers alike.
Perhaps urban and non-urban then; or something like high-population
density and low population density. Or perhaps those of us who actually
prefer the city and everybody else.
If you have any encounter with Pennsylvania politics, you will discover
that there is an East Coast (Philadelphia) and a West Coast
(Pittsburgh) and everybody else is in the middle. Occasionally Erie and
Scranton get lumped in with the two coasts, but most often, they too
wind up with "everybody else." Virtually all substantive legislative
matters in the past 50 years have revolved around the "issue" of the
Commonwealth's City of the First Class, Philadelphia, joining forces
with the Commonwealth's City of the Second Class, Pittsburgh, Vs.
everybody else. Because of population densities, the two coasts have
dominated issues and frequently made common cause, literally, against
everybody else. This is why, in the past 20 years or so, the
Philadelphia Wage Tax issue has become such a hot button. The
population shifts from Philadelphia County into the surrounding
counties has caused those counties to believe that they are "different"
from Philadelphia, but to the rest of the state, they look like
Philadelphia, "jus growed."
And yes, the Commonwealth is quite an interesting microcosm for the
rest of the country.
T.T.F.N.
William H. Magill
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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Get a room, you two.
ross bender
http://rossbender.org
