tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27054305.post4143757914244992512..comments2023-12-23T04:56:29.702-05:00Comments on Ferule & Fescue: Place and classFlaviahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17832765671541392835noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27054305.post-36882193731255481572012-03-02T00:22:03.368-05:002012-03-02T00:22:03.368-05:00HD:
Yeah, I think that's part of what I'm...HD:<br /><br />Yeah, I think that's part of what I'm getting at in these posts. Though I grew up not particularly associating rootlessness with class advantage (my great-grandparents were immigrants, my grandfather rode the rails back & forth across the country as a teenager until he joined the Marines, etc.), I've definitely always seen it as being about self-determination, about ambition, about not getting <i>stuck</i> somewhere. And as I've gotten older, that idea has fused with certain ideas about class.<br /><br />But there are ways in which rootedness can actually aid the aspirational: a significant minority of my students couldn't attend college if they couldn't live with their parents while doing so (or if they couldn't call upon their parents and siblings for child care), and it's equally true for older and more stable people like us: life's a lot easier for academic moms with parents nearby who provide child- care, for example, or with a brother-in-law across town who's a contractor, or whatever.Flaviahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17832765671541392835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27054305.post-75968431304356607552012-03-01T08:51:35.446-05:002012-03-01T08:51:35.446-05:00As an academic on parental leave right now, I'...As an academic on parental leave right now, I've been thinking about how the experience of having children connects with place and class. Here's the thing: until I had kids, I thought that rootlessness was the way to go. I grew up in a working class family and I wanted to _get out_ of town. And I did. It should be a success story, right? But here's the thing: now that I have kids, I am envious of those in my neighborhood who have lived here their whole life, because they have tremendous resources I don't--a whole life time of connections that I really could use right now. I'm not sure how that maps onto the discussion of class and place, but until I had kids I didn't want that sense of rootedness. I linked it with a class-based mentality that I very much tried to transcend. And the irony is that now, I long for it. <br /><br />okay, back to nursing...hdnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27054305.post-24586790205199285632012-02-28T12:56:21.415-05:002012-02-28T12:56:21.415-05:00Withy:
Yes, this is true, and I've thought ab...Withy:<br /><br />Yes, this is true, and I've thought about this--about the ways that children ground one, in useful ways, to the place that one is transplanted into.<br /><br />Still, it's hard for me to foresee many of my transplanted friends who have kids remaining here past their own retirement: once the kids move away (and they tend to), why stay? I had a good friend who taught at a nearby institution and who moved here by way of Chicago and Boston, and whom I considered somewhat of a model: he and his wife loved this city, were here for 27 years, raised two kids, and his wife had built up a private practice here. They sat on all kinds of charitable and arts boards, and knew seemingly everyone in the city. But once the kids were in college he idly started applying for jobs elsewhere, until boom! A nice one came through and they pulled up stakes and moved hundreds of miles and several states away.<br /><br />There's nothing <i>wrong</i> with this--in many ways, the idea of having two or three successive places, over a lifetime, where one puts down roots for 10+ years is quite appealing to me. But it's a different kind of relationship to place, and the roots, as I say, are much shallower.Flaviahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17832765671541392835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27054305.post-31551908018043113582012-02-28T09:02:44.471-05:002012-02-28T09:02:44.471-05:00I bet this would be a little different if you had ...I bet this would be a little different if you had a kid. You would strike up at least casual friendships with the parents of whomever it was your kid was playing with, going to school with. This can be a pretty-class-bound experience too, of course, both explicitly and within the class-locality overlap, but it would still localize your acquaintances (and maybe, in time, friends) a bit more.<br /><br />(At the very least, it might introduce you to the college-student-babysitting-community!)<br /><br />I'm not saying this as a Huge Dichotomous Experience thang, but as something that matters at least on the margins. Frankly, my wife does more of these sorts of social interactions, and I don't have any close friends from this group. But I have a whole bunch of mildly friendly acquaintances in the neighborhood now, with whom I chat, and whose recommendations now influence how I spend my time. (E.g., the children's puppet show I just saw.)<br /><br />Security words Shicl Fonfo, who I think is a shady entrepreneur in the Deneb asteroids.Withywindlehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11465319711207992232noreply@blogger.com