The book In the Neighborhood, by Peter Lovenheim is a very interesting look into the lives of residents in modern suburban neighborhoods. His neighborhood in Rochester New York mirrors many communities across the country. He paints a familiar picture of a community that waves at each other as they drive by, yet do not know the person they are waving at. This disconnection of people that live their lives so close to one another was completely unnoticed by Lovenheim until tragedy struck his community. One night in 2000, a routine activity that Lovenheim practiced, walking his dogs, exposed his consciousness to the lack of association he shared with those who live in close proximity to him. As he approached his street he observed emergency vehicles …show more content…
accompanied by television broadcast trucks. He learns one of his neighbors killed his wife and then subsequently killed himself. This was disturbing to say the least, but what the author found equally distressing was the lack of impact felt by a family tragically coming to an end just three houses down from him. How could this be?
How could a family be shattered overnight in the most horrifying way imaginable and the next week a fore sale sign be the only remnant that a family once lived there? This is what started Lovenheim’s fascination with the associations we share with those who live around us. This brings to mind something expressed in the Catholic Update Guide to Faithful Citizenship. Under the Social Justice portion, Mary Carol Kendzia writes, “Equally fundamental is the principle of the human community. Nobody lives all alone in the world and nobody can survive without interacting with others” (Kendzia, p32). While we understand that it is possible to live isolated from others, what Kendzia is conveying is that the sense of community is innate and is what has helped us thrive as creatures of God. To go against this is not conducive to a healthy community. This innate sense of community was ignored by Lovenheim, and possibly all the residents in the neighborhood, until the tragic even that occurred snapped him out of his learned complacency. Now he was on a mission to get to know his neighbors, but not in a conventional …show more content…
sense. Lovenheim concluded that the only real way to get to know his neighbors was to spend the night with them in their home!
Surprisingly many of his neighbors indulged him and allowed him to spend the night. This is the experience Lovenheim documents in the book. We get to know some of his neighbors like Lou Guzzetta and Patti DiNitto among others. Through these visits he gets to connect with and better understand the people he lives so close to as well as explore what they have to offer the others within the community. Throughout the book, Lovenheim exhibits some characteristics of a servant-leader as described by Robert Greenleaf. Before that tragic night in 2000, Lovenheim had just been just another person consumed with his own life and issues. Yet after his realization of just how disconnected the residents in his neighborhood were, he started to actively serve others in a way that helps them grow, become wiser, and assists them in serving others. He realized that people, all to often, become passive to the current system, and he starts to see this lack of community as an
injustice. How you ask? As the Lovenheim investigates the murder-suicide that sparked his consciousness in the first place, he realized that had the victim in the case, a woman named Renan, may have not met such a tragic end if she had a relationship or “association” with some of her neighbors. In the chapter a Considerable Trauma the author writes, “Maybe if Renan had known someone else in the neighborhood,” I offered, she could have found shelter closer by? (Lovenheim, p. 52). This is an assumption of course, because even had Renan known some of her neighbors that alone may or may not have stopped the appalling way in which she lost her life, but it is not an unreasonable assumption. What Lovenheim realized was that the associations we do or do not have in life, can impact a person much more that previously thought. One concept from Alexis De Tocqueville’s Democracy in America that applies is, “if men are to remain civilized or to become civilized, the art of association must develop and improve among them” (Tocqueville, p. 57). If the associations of the residents of this Rochester neighborhood were more developed and nurtured, the tragedy of one family may have been averted. Lovenheim further realizes the power that a more tight-knit association between his neighbors could have had as he gets to know the various residents. As he is getting to know Patti DiNitto, Lovenheim uncovers a Dick’s Sporting goods tag on her key chain and ruminates on the loose connection that this keychain symbolized as it was for the same store in which the murder weapon used to kill Renan was purchased. This struck Lovenheim. As he got to know Patti, he noticed all the parallels between her and Renan. Both were physicians, both had two children, and both struggled with a difficult marriage. The author could not help but think that had the two met and got to know each other, they could have strengthened and supported each other through though their individual struggles. He poignantly states, “maybe instead of Patti watching a television news report of Renan’s death that night, Renan and her children could have taken shelter in Patti’s home, maybe in the very guest room were I slept” (Lovenheim, pg. 145). Lovenheim came to the conclusion that strong social bonds and associations play a large role in the health of a community, and if just one person could benefit from these associations, it is imperative that each member of the community strives to form these bonds. This has helped me reshape my perception of the members in my community, and has motivated me to become more active in my neighborhood, for the betterment of everyone involved, especially me.
Several works we have read thus far have criticized the prosperity of American suburbia. Jack Kerouac's The Dharma Bums, Philip Roth's Goodbye, Columbus, and an excerpt from Lawrence Ferlinghetti's poem "A Coney Island of the Mind" all pass judgement on the denizens of the middle-class and the materialism in which they surround themselves. However, each work does not make the same analysis, as the stories are told from different viewpoints.
Images that have the ability to induce physical sensations are often the most sought after. A painter that has the ability to induce these sensations is Jonas Lie, with his painting Dusk on Lower Broadway. The painting Dusk on Lower Broadway is a timely piece that exhibits a diverse mixture of artistic concepts and techniques, using quick short brushstrokes with dark cold colors to create an atmosphere of Dusk on lower Broadway.
The main point Perry stresses in Population 485, is the important role community plays in helping a person feel at home. The definition argument plays an important role in conveying Perry’s message of the importance of community, using both the operational and example definition methods. The example definition method is exemplified numerous times throughout the story, as Michael Perry uses his own personal examples to display how crucial those in his community are in providing him with a sense of belonging. Additionally, Perry employs the operational definition method by including tragedy in the majority of his stories. The inclusion of tragedy in his stories create allow readers to conclude that tragedy brings people closer together. While this may be true in this case, tragedy does not always bring people closer together. Belonging, in the eyes of Michael Perry, is the feeling of finding family inside his community, rather than simply knowing the people in his community.
The movie Neighbors (2014) is about a family, Mac, Kelly and their new born daughter, who are settling into a quiet neighborhood until a fraternity moves into the house next door. The fraternity keeps the couple up at night because they are being to loud which ultimately leads to a ‘war’ between the couple and the fraternity. Each of the main characters are trying to prove that they have more power and establish their male dominance over one another. This paper will highlight the masculinities and place emphasis on the main male characters in this movie, the father, Mac, and the fraternity president, Teddy.
“Communal Responsibility in Ernest J. Gaines‘s A Lesson Before Dying”.
Starting off the discussion we will start with chapter one. Chapter one is about Decent and street families. Decent families are families who live by society’s norms and try to avoid violence, drugs, confrontation, whereas street families embrace violence and fear because it is a way to stay alive within their neighborhoods. In the chapter they discuss how many families in the inner city actually have the decent family values, but can also harbor the street values. For example in the chapter they actually discussed an instance where Marge a women they had interviewed had a problem with others in her neighborhood. Her story s...
Driving through Charlestown will take you just three minutes. The kids on street corners will stare at your car, while adults will yell out your name and wave. The friendly atmosphere can make you feel welcome if you are a part of the neighborhood. But it vanishes if you are an outsider or a local victim of a crime.
Furthermore, he attempts to dispel the negative aspects of gentrification by pointing out how some of them are nonexistent. To accomplish this, Turman exemplifies how gentrification could positively impact neighborhoods like Third Ward (a ‘dangerous’ neighborhood in Houston, Texas). Throughout the article, Turman provides copious examples of how gentrification can positively change urban communities, expressing that “gentrification can produce desirable effects upon a community such as a reduced crime rate, investment in the infrastructure of an area and increased economic activity in neighborhoods which gentrify”. Furthermore, he opportunistically uses the Third Ward as an example, which he describes as “the 15th most dangerous neighborhood in the country” and “synonymous with crime”, as an example of an area that could “need the change that gentrification provides”.
This theme of community is present throughout the book; for example, Muley Graves says that if a man has food, and sees a fellow man hungry, he must share it (Lisca 102). This sense of community is present throughout the book as many migrant workers who are in the same pair of shoes find a need for another family and fill it as best they can. For example, instead of splitting their train car with another family, Jenkins 2 Al tears down the tarpaulin between the two families and the family welcomes them (Lisca 102). Finally, Casy is killed in a strike advocating for what he believed in. It wasn’t for himself; it was for others he died, just as Jesus Christ did.
In conducting this assignment we visited the neighborhood of Washington Heights. During our visits we interviewed several of the residences; so that we could get a first hand prospective of what it is like living in the community, why they settled in the community and the many changes that they have witness durning their time in the neighborhood.
I was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois. I lived in a very welcoming neighborhood. As a child, I had many friends on my street. We would ride bikes, climb trees, visit the playground at the local park district, and stay outside until the streetlights turned on. The families on my street always looked out for each other, so we didn't worry too much about safety. All of my friends attended the same school and participated in the Chicago Park District's activities such as Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, music and dance lessons, and open gym events. The park district hosted an annual gym show so the kids could perform for their families. Residents would get together on most Sundays to talk about issues in the neighborhood and share meals and stories.
demonstrates how the characters of the book are reckless and view love as something that can
Lance Freeman tackles the issue of gentrification from the perspectives of residents in the gentrified neighborhood. He criticizes the literature for overlooking the experiences of the victims of gentrification. The author argues that people’s conceptions on the issue are somewhat misinformed in that most people consider it as completely deplorable, whereas in reality, it benefits the community by promoting businesses, different types of stores, and cleaner streets. These benefits are even acknowledged by many residents in the gentrified neighborhood. However, the author admits that gentrification indeed does harm. Although gentrification does not equate to displacement per se, it serves to benefit primarily homeowners and harm the poor. Additionally,
This novel illustrates the power and importance of community solidarity. For example, Sethe receives help from members of the Underground Railroad to exorcise Beloved’s ghost. Morrison writes, “Some brought what they could and what they believed would work. Stuffed in apron pockets, strung around their necks, lying in the space between their breasts. Others brought Christian faith--as shield and sword. Most brought a little of both” (303). The town bands together against the ghost. Critics discuss many examples about the universality of community solidarity in Beloved. Wahneema Lubiano writes, “This novel is, finally, a text about the community as a site of complications that empowers, as much as its social history within the larger formation debilitates, its members.” This statement relates well to the fact that the community binds together to fight the ghost.
The two neighborhoods that I chose to use for this assignment are vastly different. The main reason is because they are on opposite sides of the country. The first neighborhood that I visited is the one that I grew up in. This neighborhood is in Connecticut, on the East Coast, all the way across the country from the neighborhood that I currently live in here in West Hollywood. Most of my family lives in Connecticut and Massachusetts and I’m the only one who lives on the West Coast. A big difference is that the neighborhood in Connecticut has houses that are more spaced out, have larger lawns, and very many more trees. There are very few apartments there, unlike where I live now where my entire street is almost all apartment buildings.