I vowed to never again live in the suburbs!!!

they are bad bad bad... sorry to those of you in the suburbs... but it is really how I feel.

they are lifeless... and promote dirty rotten consumerism...

we have too much.

we don’t need everything we do have.

bigger is not better...

yesterday a co-worker said, "sandy wants to be the new downtown". I couldn’t formulate my thoughts... they involved a lot of half statements made out of frustration... I haven’t been that great at formulating my thoughts since my face hit a truck... but one thing I said was, "Sandy will never be the next downtown... What are they trying to do, create a ghetto?... I will never ever live in the suburbs!... Sandy is big and shiny and lifeless!...

it is terrifying what happens to a city as the suburbs develop... when this happens a city dies... inner cities/ ghettos are created... the people in the inner city cannot get out... all the tax money leaves for the suburbs (white flight)... and the cities die... school systems, libraries, museums and parks all deteriorate... when children grow up in a neighborhood where adults do not get up and go to work… those children never learn how to work… we know many of the things we know instinctually because we watched our parents who watched their parents do it…

I love SLC. I think before downtown SLC becomes the next american ghetto many things will have to change. many community minded people will have to turn their backs on the city... for now there are plenty of gentrifier’s (is that a word?)... to keep the city flowing... we need everyone...

I am especially partial to the homeless population… because I work with them... and have learned a thing or two in the past year... they are a part of the city... the community... their life style and culture tends to differ from the norm... the middle class... but they are human… they are just trying like the rest of us to make it… surviving... the best way that they know how.

there are many psychological and societal circumstances that create homelessness... but the point is that it exists. I read the book sidewalk in college... written by a sociologist... it refers to people on the streets as characters... the book is about black street vendors in greenwich village and their work culture... to them selling books and magazine on the street a legitimate business… many of the characters have been on the same street corner for years… they sleep on the street to keep their place… if they leave, someone else will come and take their place… one of the characters referred to in the book now teaches at NYU... at the encouragement of the author he overcame the stigma against formal education possessed my many people in poverty culture...

the author didn't coin the term character... the term showed up again and again in my sociology classes… i cant remember where it originally came from... anyways, a character is someone who is consistent... who is there and who is a part of the community... their presence makes people feel safe. they are part of the neighborhood. they watch out for other people… acting as a protector they feel a sense of belonging or a place in the community that otherwise rejects them…

one of my clients told me of an emergency situation at Liberty park… my client stepped up to the bat and prevented several people from getting hurt… when he told the story it was the self respect that he felt in being able to contribute… even though he was homeless, he had something to give…

There are more than a few characters in SLC... There is a man I have never met before… I see him riding his bike around... I actually haven’t seen him in a while… I hope he is ok... I have never met him... My friend Lisa said that when she walks her dogs at Memory Grove Park he is the only homeless person she feels safe talking to... She said he remembers her... One day he said to her about her dogs, "Oh... they are behaving today"... Another person I know said about him, "He wants people to think he is crazy, but really is an old softy"... Last year there was a stabbing at Pioneer Park... Rumor has it a man who none of the usual homeless Pioneer park peeps knew stabbed a lawyer walking by... The character I am referring to tried to help them man by intervening… He was stabbed in the shoulder in the process… The man that was attacked died, and the police ended up shooting the attacker… I guess our friend who was stabbed in the shoulder could have died from his injuries, but survived and healed quickly… Like I said… all rumors… but rumors I like…

It is true that we must be careful. I am careful about the people I don’t know and I work around... Many of them are mentally ill and/or addicted to hard drugs… but they are people... they are a part of our community... and for whatever reason they are in the situation that they are in...

I respect people who are willing to let go of the, "Not in my backyard" mentality... and I love those who have never thought that way in the first place… Live and work on improving your community instead of running away… that’s all…

p.s. I will feel this way even when I have children.

p.s.s. there are few to no characters in the suburbs...