Postcard From Suburbia

elaine: 16th Apr 2005 - 23:07 GMT

J G Ballard says everything happens on the edge, and refused not to live in the suburbs

Jamie: 17th Apr 2005 - 08:07 GMT

Broadmindedness (if thats a real word) is not limited only to those who live in or those who are raised in an urban environment. I grew up in british suburbia, and live currently in the semi rural settings of lincolnshire. Thanks for taking the time to not only trawl through our maze of articles but actually contribute a worthwhile and very articulate piece. You sound like a smart kid.

Jamie: 17th Apr 2005 - 08:11 GMT

Broadmindedness (if thats a real word) is not limited only to those who live in or those who are raised in an urban environment. I grew up in british suburbia, and live currently in the semi rural settings of lincolnshire. Thanks for taking the time to not only trawl through our maze of articles but actually contribute a worthwhile and very articulate piece. You sound like a smart kid.

Marc: 17th Apr 2005 - 08:23 GMT

oh man that was my lame anonymous post, misshitting the enter key..

i grew up in suburbias and love cities now.. suburbias are like mosquito ponds, thick stagnant things that insects flock to to breed- the eggs hatch and spread out to other places, then they come back to die..

great people come frm cities and great people come frm suburbia.. growing up in suburbia at least gives you something to rebel against..

"civilization, ancient and wicked..." -subotai, conan the barbarian

people started living in cities and they started dealing with each other- in the US, the largest momentum for changing the culture of TV+fear is coming from the big cities-- nyc, boston, sf, chicago-- not just the art and the continually evolving communal aesthetic of so many people sweating on each other, but also the legal challenges to the status quo, the local elections which lead to city councils passing resolutions endorsing same sex marriage, condemning imperialist wars, etc..

suburbinization is a powerful force and it's worthwhile to understand where it comes from (economic depression+demand, social pressures, racial flight) and where it's going- towards a 'community' where nobody talks to other people, nobody compares notes on existence, they just watch COPS and the nightly news and other shows that make them more and more terrified of their neighbors, much less communicating with their neighbors or at least trusting them more than the all-seeing pyramid of TV- the one-directional point of contact.

"if someone came for you one night and dragged you away, do you really think your neighbors would even care?" -jello biafra/DOA, last scream of the missing neighbors

how to combat suburbinization? nobody knows how economic and racial trends happen-- but for yourself, talk to every person you meet and develop a shared context so that you know where each other is coming frm- labour or conservative or lib dem or whatever.. dont let yourself get compartmentalized and isolated- even if you move into a city you can still let yourself never talk to anyone and stay inside your coffin-shaped apartment all day long-- "get off the internet, i'll meet you in the streets" -le tigre

oh and ps the punchline to the joke of the social contract is: "everybody's a fucking genius, and everybody is you".. i measure the social fabric by taking a look at the virtues everyone is living towards-- that one, for example, or maybe a virtue like "let's get rich so that i can feel better about being poor"-- and seeing how much collective seratonin that generates for all of humanity- or how much depression and napping it weaves like a cloak of sleepytime tea over the resting eyes of civilizations in decline..

elaine: 17th Apr 2005 - 08:23 GMT

By the way, lots of people of all ages complain constantly about where they live - or about where I live, for better or worse reason. My friend Lucy lives in Edinburgh and pines for Hackney, she says Edinburgh is a cultural desert. I heard a tale the other day of someone brought up in Bethnal Green who can't bear it here, and has defected to Brixton. There are people in Brighton who are like moonies about it, and carp on about how you should move there every second sentence, the other one being how the house prices have shot up because bloody Londoners are buying the place up, and now no one local can afford to live there anymore. And finally, existential superawareness is the perogative of the young, you might grow out of it, but I never did, so pack sandwiches, it might be for the long haul

Marc: 17th Apr 2005 - 08:28 GMT

re: "i'm from there"-wanderlust

many americans dream of moving to san francisco- whether it's the 60s or the internet or the beats or an anachronistic fancy for gold rush/chinese railroad coolie days.. it's the responsibility of every SF denizen to go out of their way to provide crashspace to new converts and of course convince everyone they know to move out there too..

living new places sets your viewing frustrum, like a camera.. instead of living near the beach where everything was tranquil, i moved to the hood where there was much violence and no grocery stores within walking distance (okay i like walking 3 miles).. plus the distances change, so your view/perspective of existence changes.. having lived in "city-on-a-hill" progressive political utopia of SF for 7 years, it is nice to leave the country and augment my perspective by the experience of living in a third world country with a (recent and enshrined) history of violent political revolution..

elaine: 17th Apr 2005 - 08:42 GMT

how to be a londoner - on a precedent of 2000 years standing, just let your return ticket run out. If you're here you are a REAL londoner, beause that is the nature of a port. A hundred languages, and not so much as everybody is in the right, as in the SF doctrine, but you do have the right, at least, and this is what makes Britain Great, to complain, bitterly, and at length, to anyone who will listen. We don't have a Patritotism bill as yet or any oath of alligiance or even ID cards, and shopkeepers can put their goods in their windows instead of the national flag - doubtless this shit is in the post, but so far we are a heady mix of griping odds. What I really like, though it has it's limitations is that you could go outside in london painted blue and naked, and people would look, then get on with what they were doing. The downside of this is I bought a coat recently which I was a bit afraid looked like a dressing gown, so I wore it in the street to gague reaction, then I remembered there would be no reaction in Bethnal Green even if I were wearing a dressing gown, so I had to make my own judgement.

Ben (poster of above article): 17th Apr 2005 - 14:57 GMT

Thankyou for all your comments, they've really changed my perspective on things. To be honest, I was half-expecting to be patronized. But you've all been completely straight with me, which is a rare thing for a kid of my age. So thankyou for that as well. My older sister travelled to Vietnam to teach English a couple of years ago, and she's got quite a lot of pictures from Hanoi if anyone's interested? Oh bollocks, I just realised I spelt Postcard 'postcrad.' Sorry.

jeeff: 17th Apr 2005 - 15:12 GMT

yeah, let's see hanoi photos!

i grew up in the suburbs of a suburban city, a place just about as white-bread average as you can imagine. as soon as possible, at 18, i moved away to the big city (the biggest one readily available). i lived there for 7 years, and then spent a year living in tokyo, teaching english like your sister. a great experience, and also another step up in terms of urban complexity. now i'm back for a pit-stop in my home town, my first stay here in 8 years. i have a whole new perspective now, but a lot of things never change. i rode my bicycle back through the neighbourhoods i grew up in, neighbourhoods which are barely older than i am. the individuals there are different now, but all the people are the same. the trees have just grown taller.

i would guess that most of the people who live in & love the cities come from the burbs. we often appreciate the things that we choose for ourselves, not what we're born into.

elaine: 17th Apr 2005 - 16:03 GMT

... which brings me neatly back to Ballard. maybe his liking for the suburbs came in part from how weird his life had been up until then? God, Empire of the Sun was such a fab film, as were both that book and the other one about his childhood.
personally I'm with the escapologists camp - firstly suburban london, semi detached land then Edinburgh. I feel a bit disjointed in the suburbs, but a total alien in Edinburgh, so there you have it, an elective east ender, just as I should be, in my opinion

elaine: 17th Apr 2005 - 18:01 GMT

actually, you know, london suburbs are very unlike other places in the world. get your camera out and give us your perspective, why doncha?

Peter: 18th Apr 2005 - 14:36 GMT

hey ben, thanks for posting. id love to hear more from you or see some photos next time- that would be great!

it looks like some folks have given you some very thoughtful responses to your queries, so i won't add to that pile, but i will say that this "urban train of thought" you mention is the entire motivation for this site... youre actually using it as it was intended, so good for you :)

isnt it nice to be where you are adn share with us where youre coming from, and to hear about where we are and what our lives are like?

hasslehoff: 18th Apr 2005 - 14:38 GMT

for some reason the theme tune from "Cheers" is now lodged firmly in my head.