I really think the nosy neighbor problem gets worse the more suburban the area becomes.  The further out you get, the more suspicious and security-minded the people are.  People in the city are used to weirdos and weirdness, so they're less concerned about what everyone else is up to.

 

I somewhat agree to that.  When I was a teenager, our old neighbors kid used to spy on my mom in the backyard.  He took Polaroids of my mom.  My brother gave him one asswhippin' & black eye.

 

The other neighbors I love but they come over all the time to see what my parents are "up to".  Yesterday, I was on the phone with my mom, she was in the garden turning the soil and outlining her garden for this year, and next voice I hear is the neighbor.

 

The suburban neighbors are worse than the urban neighbors in many cases.  Urban neighbors tend to respect your boundaries.  Suburban neighbors tend to assume that they have a right to encroach on your property because it's the neighborly thing to do.

 

Pretty much sums up our old neighbors, they weren't Kravitz, but Kauffman is close enough.  LOL

In Va., Vision of Suburbia at a Crossroads

Targeting Cul-de-Sacs, Rules Now Require Through Streets in New Subdivisions

By Eric M. Weiss, Washington Post, March 22, 2009

 

Virginia is taking aim at one of the most enduring symbols of suburbia: the cul-de-sac.

 

The state has decided that all new subdivisions must have through streets linking them with neighboring subdivisions, schools and shopping areas. State officials say the new regulations will improve safety and accessibility and save money: No more single entrances and exits onto clogged secondary roads. Quicker responses by emergency vehicles. Lower road maintenance costs for governments.

 

Although cul-de-sacs will remain part of the suburban landscape for years to come, the Virginia regulations attack what the cul-de-sac has come to represent: quasi-private standalone developments around the country that are missing only a fence and a sign that says "Keep Out."

It's a good article. I saw it on planetizen the other day. I'm glad that some areas are begining to understand the stupidity and high cost of the cul-de-sac.

 

Follow this link if you want to see a great illustration of the problems with the cul-de-sac. What should be a 20 yard stroll turns into a 5 mile journey that's not realistic without a car.

 

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=fernside+rd,+jacksonville,+fl&daddr=peerless+lane,+jacksonville,+fl&geocode=&hl=en&mra=ls&dirflg=w&sll=30.312905,-81.51668&sspn=0.033566,0.053387&ie=UTF8&t=h&z=14

It's a good article. I saw it on planetizen the other day. I'm glad that some areas are begining to understand the stupidity and high cost of the cul-de-sac.

 

Follow this link if you want to see a great illustration of the problems with the cul-de-sac. What should be a 20 yard stroll turns into a 5 mile journey that's not realistic without a car.

 

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=fernside+rd,+jacksonville,+fl&daddr=peerless+lane,+jacksonville,+fl&geocode=&hl=en&mra=ls&dirflg=w&sll=30.312905,-81.51668&sspn=0.033566,0.053387&ie=UTF8&t=h&z=14

 

That link is crazy!

You could take some of those cul-de-sac meets tapeworm street maps, strip the names off, and turn them into a wallpaper or Formica pattern.  And use it in ranches and split levels in those same subdivisions.

Personally, I have always hated when people say"We wanted to move to so and so because they have great schools".  AKA, we are racist snobs who also feel like everyone around us is white trash.  Good schools, give me a break.  If your kids can't learn in Parma schools, that's not Parma's fault.  The good school system thing has been used for too many years as a cover up for closet racists.

 

Ahahaha, dumbass white racists fill the outer ring 'burbs and exurbs thinking that their kids won't turn out "too black" because they won't be exposed to black people. Then their worst nightmare happens: most of the "thuggy" white males and white girls who get with "thuggy" black guys are from these environments, not the cities. Since they haven't been around other cultures, the kids become obsessed with the MTV version of black people.

Personally, I have always hated when people say"We wanted to move to so and so because they have great schools".  AKA, we are racist snobs who also feel like everyone around us is white trash.  Good schools, give me a break.  If your kids can't learn in Parma schools, that's not Parma's fault.  The good school system thing has been used for too many years as a cover up for closet racists.

 

Ahahaha, dumbass white racists fill the outer ring 'burbs and exurbs thinking that their kids won't turn out "too black" because they won't be exposed to black people. Then their worst nightmare happens: most of the "thuggy" white males and white girls who get with "thuggy" black guys are from these environments, not the cities. Since they haven't been around other cultures, the kids become obsessed with the MTV version of black people.

 

The MTV version of black people?  Now that's new one to me.

Personally, I have always hated when people say"We wanted to move to so and so because they have great schools".  AKA, we are racist snobs who also feel like everyone around us is white trash.  Good schools, give me a break.  If your kids can't learn in Parma schools, that's not Parma's fault.  The good school system thing has been used for too many years as a cover up for closet racists.

 

Ahahaha, dumbass white racists fill the outer ring 'burbs and exurbs thinking that their kids won't turn out "too black" because they won't be exposed to black people. Then their worst nightmare happens: most of the "thuggy" white males and white girls who get with "thuggy" black guys are from these environments, not the cities. Since they haven't been around other cultures, the kids become obsessed with the MTV version of black people.

 

In Columbus it's not really a race thing - although, yeah, it's always going to be to some extent. It seems like there's just as many white people in the ghetto that sell drugs, do drugs, etc. Even up by Linden-McKenly it's much more integrated than the center of Cincinnati. There's also more black people in the suburbs. Columbus has a great deal of 'racial peace' unlike most U.S. cities.

Personally, I have always hated when people say"We wanted to move to so and so because they have great schools".  AKA, we are racist snobs who also feel like everyone around us is white trash.  Good schools, give me a break.  If your kids can't learn in Parma schools, that's not Parma's fault.  The good school system thing has been used for too many years as a cover up for closet racists.

 

Ahahaha, dumbass white racists fill the outer ring 'burbs and exurbs thinking that their kids won't turn out "too black" because they won't be exposed to black people. Then their worst nightmare happens: most of the "thuggy" white males and white girls who get with "thuggy" black guys are from these environments, not the cities. Since they haven't been around other cultures, the kids become obsessed with the MTV version of black people.

 

In Columbus it's not really a race thing - although, yeah, it's always going to be to some extent. It seems like there's just as many white people in the ghetto that sell drugs, do drugs, etc. Even up by Linden-McKenly it's much more integrated than the center of Cincinnati. There's also more black people in the suburbs. Columbus has a great deal of 'racial peace' unlike most U.S. cities.

I guess that is recent.  It hasn't always been that way.

My sense is that Columbus just has a lot more visible white trash. It does seem to be more mixed - though it doesn't really have the same kind of attempts of conscious integration that Cincinnati has (but that probably has more to do with the general degree of segregation, so it doesn't speak well of Cincy either).

I think the grid helps. Urban grid form promotes equality and exposure to otherness (or at least has the most potential to). Where I grew up was a neighborhood where areas were more black or more white because of the elevated train tracks and 315 as a boundary - but there wasn't any racial tension that I remember and I don't think anyone there is consiously aware of the boundaries because they're so permeable (socially); especially compared to the boundaries in Cincy. For a long time, Central Parkway was a boundary from hell and it didn't even have to try hard to be one. People just knew. But that of course is changing now.

Then their worst nightmare happens: most of the "thuggy" white males and white girls who get with "thuggy" black guys are from these environments, not the cities. Since they haven't been around other cultures, the kids become obsessed with the MTV version of black people.

 

I think they are called "whiggers"?

 

 

Then their worst nightmare happens: most of the "thuggy" white males and white girls who get with "thuggy" black guys are from these environments, not the cities. Since they haven't been around other cultures, the kids become obsessed with the MTV version of black people.

 

I think they are called "whiggers"?

 

 

 

Which is ridiculous as well.

Then their worst nightmare happens: most of the "thuggy" white males and white girls who get with "thuggy" black guys are from these environments, not the cities. Since they haven't been around other cultures, the kids become obsessed with the MTV version of black people.

 

I think they are called "whiggers"?

 

 

 

This was prevalent at my high school.  It was mostly people who had been in the skateboard clique.  This one kid got "Do Me" carved in the back of his head.

<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whig_Party_(United_States)"></a>

Yeah, I don't think this version of the word has the 'h'.

Millard Fillmore on Urban Ohio. Who'd a' thunk it?

 

This is my 500th post.

They made me do it. Congrats!

Then their worst nightmare happens: most of the "thuggy" white males and white girls who get with "thuggy" black guys are from these environments, not the cities. Since they haven't been around other cultures, the kids become obsessed with the MTV version of black people.

 

I think they are called "whiggers"?

 

 

 

Generally, I believe it can be classified by as any "white" person who acts like they are "gangsta" or "ghetto", but the wonderful posters at Urban Dictionary below came up with these first few results for Jeffery's version of spelling the word:

_______________________________________________________________________________

1.  Whigger  264 up, 38 down

A disparaging term used to describe a Caucasian person that mimics ghetto and urban vernacular. More commonly used to describe those Caucasians whose only contact with popular urban culture is the entertainment media. A poseur.

The wigger thought all the black kids at school would be his friend because his mother bought him the latest pair of Jordans.

by Venessa Nina Dec 26, 2002 share this 

 

2.  Whigger  221 up, 58 down

Whi(te-ni)gger

need I say more?

 

I do? Ok then..

 

Stupid little white boys from the suburbs (rich kids) pretending to be from the "ghetto" and to be "hard".

 

They wear fubu (for us by us, am I the only one to find the irony in this), Ecko Unlimited, shady ltd, sean john, and other nigger/whigger brands of clothes and pretend to be niggers. They speak broken ebonics, walk slow, wear baggy sweatpants, and have a habit to grab their crotch. They usually are really pail and try (and mostly fail miserably) to rap and "ball"

 

They listen to (edited here- you CANNOT diss rap music. Ever.) rap music and often think that they're actually tough, with their "peeps" and often get their asses kicked by real niggers and white people. They often speak broken ebonics, and are a logical equivilant to retarded.

 

See also Wigger (the words are pronounced the same, but have 2 different meanings, Wigger can be used for any nonblack person who acts nigger-ish, whigger is for white people only).

Whigger: I so blak yo. me n mi peeps r guna chll ltr at mikes hous.

Me: SPEAK ENGLISH YOU RETARD

Whigger: yo, u so wite foshizzle.

Me: And so are you, you tard, now speak plain english, whiety.

Whigger: yo, wai u getin up n mi gril yo?

Me: f$&k you, you faggot whigger

*I kick his ass*

nigger wigger retard rap whiteboy

by Racist Rob Mar 8, 2006 share this 

______________________________________________________________________

 

^ Hopefully I'm not the only one that thought some parts of the second definition were somewhat amusing (although I'm pretty sure that the poster WOULD get his a** beat by the "whigger", because he is a racist and has it coming). The suckish thing about being white (like myself, unfortunately) is that you CANNOT pull off acting like you are black, I do not care who you are. They are way cooler than crakers like myself could ever hope to be, so why try?

 

Laaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaawd!

 

You people are a mess.

I love how the expert judges on blackness are white people.

I love how the expert judges on blackness are white people.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xtxz3jxdC1k&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fvideo.google.com%2Fvideosearch%3Fq%3Dwiggers%26oe%3Dutf-8%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26u&feature=player_embedded

 

It isn't always so.  At least it wasn't... a lot of the backing musicians on major 60s soul albums were white.  Motown, Memphis, etc.  Those guys in the Blues Bros movie really were involved in the scene, some years prior.  And they dressed like themselves, just like everyone else did.   

Good music is good music regardless of the skin color of the musicians. The only people who seem to realize this are, in fact, musicians.

Notice that R&B scarcely uses musicians anymore... I'd love to see some suburban kids copying Steve Cropper and Donald Duck Dunn.  Very, very unlikely.

Notice that R&B scarcely uses musicians anymore... I'd love to see some suburban kids copying Steve Cropper and Donald Duck Dunn.  Very, very unlikely.

 

It's rare that any artist use live musicians, unless you're a band.  I know of cases where even bands copy or lay tracks.

It's all pretty ridiculous, but for most kids it's just a phase they go through, like the ninja phase, or wetting their bed.  If they're over 18 and still acting like that, they should get some help, though.

From down south..:

 

http://www.indyweek.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A331163

 

Imagine Raleigh without sprawl

 

18 MAR 2009  •  by Bob Geary,

 

 

In the run-up to this week's public hearing on Raleigh's draft comprehensive plan, the advice to city leaders from a stream of visiting experts has been remarkably unified. Success, experts say, depends on taking city life "back to the future."

 

The era of suburban sprawl is ending, these planners maintain, not simply because of high gas prices, but because it is fundamentally unsustainable. As Christopher Leinberger, a fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C., put it in a recent talk, the more "drivable suburban" neighborhoods a city allows, the lower the quality of life becomes for everyone living in them. The fastest-growing market now, said Leinberger, a developer, is for "walkable urban" places: the kind Raleigh doesn't have, yet needs to create, that are modeled on what cities were before cars took them over.

 

Such places are far more complicated to build and manage than the suburbs, Leinberger said. But done right, these areas improve as they grow. They have more cultural diversity and housing options—and with public transit, the chance for people to save money by owning fewer cars, or none. If Raleigh fails to create them, Leinberger warned, "You will be left in the 20th century."

 

The question for Raleigh is where these walkable urban places should be.

Wow, suburbia as The Raven.  Not bad.

Notice that R&B scarcely uses musicians anymore... I'd love to see some suburban kids copying Steve Cropper and Donald Duck Dunn.  Very, very unlikely.

 

It's rare that any artist use live musicians, unless you're a band.  I know of cases where even bands copy or lay tracks.

 

I played in a band with a bass player who had learned all of James Jamerson's basslines...by age 14.

Notice that R&B scarcely uses musicians anymore... I'd love to see some suburban kids copying Steve Cropper and Donald Duck Dunn.  Very, very unlikely.

 

It's rare that any artist use live musicians, unless you're a band.  I know of cases where even bands copy or lay tracks.

 

This is a travesty.  It's the reason modern music is garbage-- unless you're a band.  But there aren't as many bands anymore, which is a travesty.  I blame techno and I blame American Idol.

You'd think there'd be plenty of bands...with all those garages in suburbia.

 

See how I did that?

Bands are reasons for kids to hang out together, rather than play on a computer.  Modern suburbs are designed for playing on a computer.  Garage bands from the 60s weren't dealing with a lot of cul-de-sac action.  That said, my high school has been producing a lot more bands recently than it did when I was there.  So at least it's kind of come back into vogue.

It's all pretty ridiculous, but for most kids it's just a phase they go through, like the ninja phase, or wetting their bed.  If they're over 18 and still acting like that, they should get some help, though.

 

Well there are a lot of case studies out there, regardless of race.  Every time I see a kidswith over size pants I cringe....and blame their parents!  I don't want to look at your cheap undies.

 

I try to keep an open mind, because I know what was in style when I was a teen (HUSH!).  However, I have style.  Many kids today (mainly male)  do not care about appearance, or grooming and they don't have parents that know the difference or can be a positive.

 

My 13 nephew went into puberty, and now realizes girls like "neat" and "clean" boys, not boys who look like they got dressed in the dark.  My niece told him that he couldn't walk to school with her, looking like a bum and he need to grow up. 

 

In the past four/five months he's done a 180 degree change.  He asked me to take him shopping without his older sister or brother and is now worse than them.  I notice the he and his older brother have gotten closer and my niece is like, "who are you and what have you done with my brother?"  The bad part is all I can see is so much of my "playa play" brother in him now.

My parents tried and could do NOTHING to dissuade me from wearing what I wanted when I was a teen.  When excess control was attempted to be exhibited, I simply took the clothes with me and changed into them once I had left the house.  I wouldn't put all the blame on the parents for teens' clothing choices.

My parents tried and could do NOTHING to dissuade me from wearing what I wanted when I was a teen.  When excess control was attempted to be exhibited, I simply took the clothes with me and changed into them once I had left the house.  I wouldn't put all the blame on the parents for teens' clothing choices.

 

We'll like most teens I too had clothes in my locker at school. Sometimes I would an afternoon change to throw the kids off....but I knew better than to dress inapproprately.

 

I think it starts at home and each home has different "house" rules.

In his brilliant book "Why We Hate Us" author Dick Meyer talks about how most of the dumb/offensive/dangerous stuff kids get away with is a direct result of their parents' fear of being unpopular with their kids.

....but I knew better than to dress inapproprately.

 

 

See, that's the part I don't get.  Teens know what's inappropriate and dress that way purposefully.  They know better, but defy it.  It's part of the teenaged rebellion.  If you knew what was inappropriate and stuck to those guidelines, you were a pretty good kid.  I was not.

^ My parents lacked that fear, but I've seen the phenomenon at work with others.  It would have been great to throw my own keggers in high school.  Alas.

....but I knew better than to dress inapproprately.

 

 

See, that's the part I don't get.  Teens know what's inappropriate and dress that way purposefully.  They know better, but defy it.  It's part of the teenaged rebellion.  If you knew what was inappropriate and stuck to those guidelines, you were a pretty good kid.  I was not.

 

Yes, I was the golden grand child and goodie two shoes tattle-tale! 

....but I knew better than to dress inapproprately.

 

 

 

See, that's the part I don't get.  Teens know what's inappropriate and dress that way purposefully.  They know better, but defy it.  It's part of the teenaged rebellion.  If you knew what was inappropriate and stuck to those guidelines, you were a pretty good kid.  I was not.

 

Yes, I was the golden grand child and goodie two shoes tattle-tale! 

 

Now it's my turn.  LAWD!

It's all pretty ridiculous, but for most kids it's just a phase they go through, like the ninja phase, or wetting their bed.  If they're over 18 and still acting like that, they should get some help, though.

 

Well there are a lot of case studies out there, regardless of race.  Every time I see a kidswith over size pants I cringe....and blame their parents!  I don't want to look at your cheap undies.

 

You can't always blame the parents. There's only so much a parent can do. That's why I don't get why parents obsess over parenting. Trying to shelter them from the street and instilling morals in them only goes so far. I have a half brother that has felonies and still gets in bar fights all the time. He lived with his dad from middle school until 18 and his dad didn't put up with any of his nonsense. He was really strict on him. He went to a decent school, had a much more stable childhood than I did but ended up making a lot of bad decisions that I wouldn't ever make. Kids are gonna end up doing what they want to do.

^ My parents lacked that fear, but I've seen the phenomenon at work with others.  It would have been great to throw my own keggers in high school.  Alas.

 

Thats what I don't get.  I see kids today who speak to their parents like they are "equals".  Hell, I'm 42 going on 43 and there is no way in hell I would speak to my parents or grand parents in the same manner I've witnessed.  My father would have beat me.  My fathers mother (aka "the general") would have killed me.

 

I've only "acted out" once and I caught hell for that.  If not for both of my grand mothers being present, I'm sure my mother would have killed me.

It's all pretty ridiculous, but for most kids it's just a phase they go through, like the ninja phase, or wetting their bed.  If they're over 18 and still acting like that, they should get some help, though.

 

Well there are a lot of case studies out there, regardless of race.  Every time I see a kidswith over size pants I cringe....and blame their parents!  I don't want to look at your cheap undies.

 

You can't always blame the parents. There's only so much a parent can do. That's why I don't get why parents obsess over parenting. Trying to shelter them from the street and instilling morals in them only goes so far. I have a half brother that has felonies and still gets in bar fights all the time. He lived with his dad from middle school until 18 and his dad didn't put up with any of his nonsense. He was really strict on him. He went to a decent school, had a much more stable childhood than I did but ended up making a lot of bad decisions that I wouldn't ever make. Kids are gonna end up doing what they want to do.

 

Not at my parents house.  Nor any of my aunt or uncles homes.

 

Maybe I was just afraid to act up.

 

I remember the day my uncle made a surprise visit to school because my cousin was a class clown. I was soooooooooooo embarrassed.  All us kids got in trouble because he was actin' an ass.

Unfortunately, thug gear carries baggage which goes beyond just wanting to be a rebellious teen, especially if we're talking about a black teen in a low-income black neighborhood. It's part and parcel of a lifestyle, one where some young black guys around 18 partake in and end up dead with gunshot wounds. In this case the parents carry much of the blame for allowing or encouraging an inferior culture (using the term very loosely here) to permeate their neighborhood.

Hell, I'm 42 going on 43 and there is no way in hell I would speak to my parents or grand parents in the same manner I've witnessed. My father would have beat me. My fathers mother (aka "the general") would have killed me.

 

You're not allowed to discipline your kids anymore.  If anywhere remotely in public, people can (and do) literally report you to the police and you can be arrested.  At home, a neighbor or even the child themselves can get you arrested.  Parents just don't have that kind of "physical" option any longer, largely.

Nowadays parents have access to information on better parenting skills, but they lack to social capital to know what to do with it and cower at the prospect of being unliked by their kids or misunderstood by their neighbors. This is a generational effect of the isolation wrought by the suburbs.

Nowadays parents have access to information on better parenting skills, but they lack to social capital to know what to do with it and cower at the prospect of being unliked by their kids or misunderstood by their neighbors. This is a generational effect of the isolation wrought by the suburbs.

 

I agree with the first part of your statement (quite a bit actually), but would like to know how you get that only suburban parents don't want their kids to hate them?  I mean, that's really out there kingfish.  And everyone's been going on and on about how urban people know their neighbors, watch their houses, etc and suburban people want (and get) more privacy, so your argument doesn't really wash to me.