Neighborly rambling

July 18, 2018

Who?  Who are the people in your neighborhood?  In your neighborhood?  In your neighborhoooood?

Well, they’re the people that you meet each day, I guess.  

But that is only part of the equation.  What is your neighborhood?  And, more generally, what is a neighborhood?

I have been thinking about neighborhoods a lot lately for the following reasons:

1.    Snot Jr. asked me the other day, “How many neighborhoods are there in the world?”

2.    An article in the local newspaper mentioned neighborhoods.  

3.    Mr. Rogers has been in the news lately because he is the subject of a retrospective documentary.

4.    I wore this shirt that I got in Seattle, a city, as I understand it, that is famous for its neighborhoods.

More thoughts on each item below:

1.  I am not sure how he came up with this question, but I was intrigued.  I estimated thusly:  10 million. At about 8 billion people, that is about 800 people per neighborhood.  I guess that may be reasonable.  Some neighborhoods have 1 person (like in some counties in Wyoming), some neighborhoods might have a couple tens of thousands (like Sasazuka [a district of Shibuya], in Tokyo).  

2.  In the newspaper article, the subject was how people on both sides of 72nd Street rarely venture onto the other side.  One of the subjects of the story mentioned that he lived out here in the ‘burbs of Omaha for awhile and felt a sense of “meh”-ness towards the city.  But then he moved east of 72^ndStreet and he realized that what he had been missing were, as you may have guessed, neighborhoods!  I think I understand what he is getting at, it was pretty obvious that I lived in the Field Club neighborhood when I lived over on 39^thand Center (after consulting Wikipedia, I realize I didn’t actually live in the exclusive Field Club neighborhood, I was just in the classic Hanscom Park neighborhood). Now that I am a suburbanite, I had to consider for a bit before I decided that I consider my neighborhood to be the Walnut Grove Park neighborhood.  However, the online post-board Next Door categorized me as a member of the Colonies neighborhood, which I think of as more of a subdivision. So there you have it. Neighborhoods out here in the suburbs may be a bit more subjective and amorphous.  And there’s not a whole lot of defining character per suburban neighborhood.  I just thought of what defines my neighborhood to me, which is the enjoyable nearby park.  

3.  Mr. Rogers has been in the news lately because there is a recent documentary about him called Won’t you be my Neighbor?  There is also a Korn song that blames Mr. Rogers for making him trust neighbors that weren’t really trustworthy.  Well, I guess Mr. Rogers isn’t for everyone.  And TV isn’t a substitute for a parent or mentor.  I had a generally favorable impression of Mr. R.  

4.  Seattle seems big, but there aren’t quite as many big streets/highways and interstates as some big cities I’ve been in.  The interstates kind of seem to divide cities and make them less neighborly.  The neighborhood I hung out in is called Pinehurst.  Or maybe Northgate.  Anyway, it is great!  There’s even a little park right around the corner.  And lots of really good restaurants.  Like this Thai restaurant.

So that’s a summary of the neighborhood items I’ve recently been considering.  Here are some definitions of a neighborhood:  

1.    the area or region around or near some place or thing; vicinity:the kids of the neighborhood; located in the neighborhood of Jackson and Vine streets.

2.    a district or locality, often with reference to its character or inhabitants:a fashionable neighborhood; to move to a nicer neighborhood.

3.    a number of persons living near one another or in a particular locality:The whole neighborhood was there.

(dictionary.com)

Researchers have not agreed on an exact definition, but the following may serve as a starting point: "Neighbourhood is generally defined spatially as a specific geographic area and functionally as a set of social networks. Neighbourhoods, then, are the  spatial units in which face-to-face social interactions occur—the personal settings and situations where residents seek to realise common values, socialise youth, and maintain effective social control."

(Wikipedia)

Alright.  The #1 definition seems reasonable - the wiki about Seattle neighborhoods mentioned that many neighborhoods developed due to, and shared names with, their local elementary school.  Most of those other definitions seem a bit vague.  I think I know of several rather concrete neighborhoods in Omaha. You’ve got the Field Club neighborhood, the Hanscom Park neighborhood, and the Elmwood Park neighborhood.  I think Dundee and Benson are considered neighborhoods, although formerly towns.   Wikipedia lists 87 or 88 Omaha neighborhoods, although I don’t really think LaVista is a neighborhood.  So in Omaha, there might be roughly 400,000 people / 100 neighborhoods = 4,000 people per neighborhood?  Or are there that many neighborhoodless individuals out there!?   If Omaha’s an average city, which it could be, at least in the Us of A, then that would mean 8 billion / 4,000 = only 2 million neighborhoods in the world!?   Rubbish, methinks!  Wikipedia can’t really delve into the identities of individuals and group them into cohesive social units! That is for us to decide!  Now I will just let everyone know about the Walnut Grove Park neighborhood, hold a few discussion groups, and crown myself absolute ruler! Wikipedia’s wisdom not withstanding, I’m pretty sure we could really have at least 200 neighborhoods, which would mean about 4 million neighborhoods in the world.  Our population density here in the Homaha is relatively low, so I think we could easily allow 2,000 people or less per hood.  No need to crowd. I’ll be sending out a few questionnaires which I entreat you to return in a timely, and neighborly, fashion. Then I will start a new website called World Neighbor to get a few of my tendrils on the pulses of worldwide neighborhoods to get this all sorted out!  As I am sure you are aware, neighborhoods are best explored by bicycle (if you want to take in more than a few), or on foot (for slightly less than a few).  If you want to take in exactly a few, you might consider a scooter, rollerblades, or a moving elliptical machine/bike-thing like I saw a few weeks ago on a local multi-use trail.

In the meantime, I decided to take Snot Jr. with me to the Dundee Theater to view My Neighbor Totoro.  This movie is about bicycling together as a family.  Also about how to ride bikes that are too big for you.  And it is also about Totoro.  Totoro is a great neighbor, although prone to playing a flute in the top of a camphor tree at night.  He (spoiler alert) even helps the protagonist (Satsuki) find her lost younger sister Mei. Sometimes you don't know how great your neighbors are until you're in trouble and they help you out.

In other news, I noticed this lying on the multi-use trail for a couple days. 

Some young literati must have grabbed that up for perusal while out for a jaunt, because it wasn't there on day 3 or so.  Hard Times are something good for our youth to read about since things are comparatively easy for us all these days.  They are especially easy with the help of some good neighbors (or at least vague cooperation and tolerance).

Also, for a vaguely bicycle related observation, for a change---
Dear Heloise,
If you are like me, you might like to eat a PB & J sandwich for lunch almost every day.  And you might like to have an apple with it.  Well can you believe I only recently realized what I could do to ensure my apple's safe arrival in an unbruised state to our lunchy rendezvous after a bicycle ride in my pannier!

Dear Cunningham's,
I am pretty sure nobody wants to see the word "hungover" on their coozy!  But it is nice and stretchy for keeping apples safe!

 Neighbor on, my good peeps.  Neighbor on! 
-Your neighborly BSO