Blog Response #2
I am originally from Las Vegas, NV and lived in or visited many different neighborhoods down there. As I read Chapter 1 - "Places" in Sampson's book, it made me reflect on my experiences as a child and teenager growing up in Las Vegas. I definitely would have never thought to study communities and Neighborhoods. I have always considered myself a people watcher and with the few different neighborhoods that I have lived in I have made some observations about the different neighborhoods and have found it very interesting that people of the same class, poverty level, ethnic background, etc seem to live in the same neighbor hood.Now I have been able to observe the contrasts been a big city like Las Vegas. a small city community like St. George, and a very small farm town like Toquerville, which is where I currently live. It its interesting to see the type and variety of people that live in each area and the variety if community topics that these different areas are or are not exposed to.
I Lived and thrived in Hurricane during High School. The stark differences between the small town and the big city such as Las Vegas have the potential to provoke the arousal of a plethora of emotions and feelings in different people! I can attest that while living in little ol' Hurricane I felt quite different that when I lived in Milan Italy a city of almost three million. However, the feeling I felt when I was with my community was the same in both cities.
ReplyDeleteLas Vegas, compared to the rest of the country presents a neighborhood on its own. Sin City, or the city that never sleeps... I can think of many more names, but the fact is Las Vegas is somewhat different. And yet, even Las Vegas has its neighborHOODS which are very diverse; the rich in gated communities all over, the Asians near China Town, the blacks in the North, the Hispanics in central, the people born in Las Vegas in the suburbs, and the ones who came from all over the country to find their luck, or simply a job are spread out all over. Who remembers Charleston Heights, where "real" Las Vegans used to live?
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, then there is St. George, which if it wasn't for DSU, presents the typical retirement community; the Florida of the mountain zone. Neighborhoods in St. George? Yes there are DSU, downtown, and the suburbs... and not to forget the malls.
Toquerville? I'm not so sure.