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Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!cbosgd!ihnp4!houxm!homxa!carson
From: carson@homxa.UUCP (P.CARSTENSEN)
Newsgroups: net.social
Subject: Re: Is anyone out there?
Message-ID: <504@homxa.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 26-Nov-84 18:37:40 EST
Article-I.D.: homxa.504
Posted: Mon Nov 26 18:37:40 1984
Date-Received: Tue, 27-Nov-84 04:39:17 EST
References: <242@hocsj.UUCP> <1787@sun.uucp> <>, <1862@nsc.UUCP>
Organization: AT&T Bell Labs, Holmdel NJ
Lines: 29

I grew up in semi-rural Ohio (near enough to Toledo to have some 
folks who commuted in to work, but I was mostly aware of the farming
community, since my folks farm....And a lot of the commuters had grown
up in the community)  Anyhow, I could never understand Ann Lander's
advice about phoning before visiting...It still is pretty much that way,
neighbors dropping in for coffee, BIG community picnics in the summer...
I think the same thing happens in old ethnic neighborhoods, too....But
definitelydoesn't happen here in extended-urban New Joisey...I know my
three immediate neighbors in the apt. complex by sight, to say "hi",
(Tho they do know enough of my daily routine to ask when they haven't
seen me around, which make me feel more secure..) but not much beyond 
that...

I think one major factor is that one's several emotional-communities
don't much overlap anymore.  When work for the father, school for the
kids, church, clubs for the moms (fact that more women work means
that they no longer need a NEIGHBORHOOD social network), extended
family, shopping areas, bars, etc. formed concentric (if not identical)
circles, the ties re-inforced one another and genuine feelings of
community were easier to achieve...Could get a small universe of 
people you dealt with (also made it easy to ignore pain outside that
universe, of course)...But it is a TRIP from my house to most of my
co-workers' homes, ditto for the folks I play volleyball with, and
so on, so that it is not surprising that (a) they form disjoint
sets of people and (b) I don't casually drop by....I guess what I'm
trying to say is that communities are most easily built on 
nearly-complete graphs with short arcs...and that's rare out here....
Patty