Wednesday
Jan092013
Suburbia | Ep #56
;)
City living got you down? Grab your 2.4 kids and join us this week for a virtual block party in Pleasantville.
Show Notes:
01:14 "I know what a cul de sac is."
03:10 Sub-urban
06:10 The outsider's perspective
09:51 The insider's rebuttal
15:55 Interlude: Descendents: "Suburban Home"
19:10 Evolution
22:04 Suburban mythology
27:25 Interlude: Arcade Fire: "The Suburbs"
15:55 Interlude: Descendents: "Suburban Home"
19:10 Evolution
22:04 Suburban mythology
27:25 Interlude: Arcade Fire: "The Suburbs"
29:10 These are the people in your neighborhood
33:01 The perception of safety
34:10 I Know My First Name is Steven
39:05 The perils of hide-and-seek
41:58 Nobody walks in Naperville
45:58 Interlude: Screeching Weasel: "Hey Suburbia"
47:10 Tiki torch wizards
53:20 Jay Z: "Big Pimpin'"
57:50 Listener poll: do you live in the city, or the "city?"
33:01 The perception of safety
34:10 I Know My First Name is Steven
39:05 The perils of hide-and-seek
41:58 Nobody walks in Naperville
45:58 Interlude: Screeching Weasel: "Hey Suburbia"
47:10 Tiki torch wizards
53:20 Jay Z: "Big Pimpin'"
57:50 Listener poll: do you live in the city, or the "city?"
4 Comments →
Reader Comments (4)
Before I get to my poll response, I'd like to assert that what John describes as "suburbs" are actually "exoburbs." These are the remote (usually new) housing developments built on farmland well outside the edges of a major city, but not far enough out that they are their own true municipality (although this may eventually happen over time, as jobs and commerce grow). I think there is a need to distinguish these places from the more dense, populated suburbs that Drew and I grew up in. While my house was easily 20-30 mins out from the city, the suburb I grew up in was dense and bustling, and I had parks, schools, a video store, pet stores, a pharmacy, and more all less than a half mile radius from my house. The neighborhood kids biked all over the area without trouble. Many of these suburbs started out as so-called exoburbs when they were first built. When i think of early exoburbs, I think of Eliot's neighborhood in E.T. – he had a corn field behind his house for heaven's sake and a gigantic forest down the road. 30 years later, there's no question that is a suburb, but some other housing development (even further from the city) has become the exoburb. These are products of large cities that support seemingly endless sprawl. The D.C. metro area, for example, supports exoburbs over an hour from the city itself.
Poll response: The TL;DR answer is no, I would not claim to be from D.C.
However, I tailor my answer based on the audience.
Before college, it never crossed my mind that one would claim to be from the city that they can't see from their house. But, when I moved to the midwest, I quickly realized that all I got were blank stares when I told people I was from Annandale, Virginia. To them, it might as well have been some backwoods Appalachian town. So, to make it easier, I began saying "D.C." In reality, those unfamiliar with the tremendous sprawl of the DC metro area would not know the difference, but would get the main point: I was from a big city, not a small town. Which was absolutely true. I did grow up "inside the beltway," after all.
Very, very well said.
Very, very well said.