This Halloween, Sean Clancy had the most original costume in his southern Pennsylvania neighborhood. The base layer of his costume wasn’t very exciting at all- a flannel shirt, jeans and boots. However, the next layer really made Clancy’s costume memorable. He tucked a street sign into his belt and draped a GAP bag from his left pocket. He hung a Coke can from his thigh and pinned a Sunoco gas rebate banner on his right knee. A KFC sign was just above his left knee, and Clancy’s mask was a US road atlas. Even among all the goblins, ghouls, ghosts, and Lord of the Rings characters, Clancy was the scariest creature of them all. Urban Sprawl.
Since the emergence of prefabricated housing in preplanned neighborhoods in the 1950s, the Pleasantville ethic has brought more than half of the country’s population to the suburbs. Yet while the suburban value system has improved the quality of our lives, it has tarnished the quality of our character. This trend of modernization was recognized by Henry David Thoreau more than a century ago, when he wrote that “While society has been improving our homes, it has not improved the men who are to inhabit them. It has created palaces, but it has not been so quick to create noblemen and kings.” It seems that today’s kings and queens lord over backyard bar-b-q’s, and ride in SUV chariots. But the purpose of this speech isn’t to criticize these kings and queens. What I take issue with is the society that makes them royalty. Herein lies the problem: Our society has come to idealize a destructive vision of the American way of life—one that puts up white picket fences to keep out our neighbors. Rather than valuing what the suburbs used to stand for—community and opportunity—now we first, embrace isolation, and second endorse exclusion.
Clancy’s roadmap Halloween mask may have been clever—but it was probably useless. Roads connecting the suburbs to other locations spring up so fast, maps can’t keep up. Many parts of the country lack public transportation that would integrate our communities rather than isolate them. According to the April 28, 2002 New York Times Magazine, “In most parts of the country, people now spend more on transportation than on medical care, education, clothing and entertainment- combined.” In Atlanta, the average person wa...
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... can’t change the ours in the work week or even our commute we can take the time to make time to spend with our family and friends.
Getting beyond isolation is only half the solution. Perhaps most importantly, we need to start considering the well-being of others as integral to our own well being. Being part of a community doesn’t mean just reaping it’s benefits. It means accepting that one of our responsibilities is to consider the well-being of those around us. As individuals, we need to start thinking of ourselves as part of a community, and acting knowing that what we do affects those around us. Our sprawling lifestyle simply means that—like it or not—we’ve enlarged our communities and increased the lives we effect with our actions. Pursue luxury and the American dream, but take ownership of its impacts.
For the not-so-huddled masses of suburbia, there’s still something appealing about the white picket fences, the 2.2 kids, golden retrievers and even the distinguished title of soccer mom. Granted, giving up the SUV may disqualify us for membership in the manly fraternity of Those Who Haul Things, but through interconnectedness and diversity, it will make us better neighbors.
Several works we have read thus far have criticized the prosperity of American suburbia. Jack Kerouac's The Dharma Bums, Philip Roth's Goodbye, Columbus, and an excerpt from Lawrence Ferlinghetti's poem "A Coney Island of the Mind" all pass judgement on the denizens of the middle-class and the materialism in which they surround themselves. However, each work does not make the same analysis, as the stories are told from different viewpoints.
Autism is a neurodevelopmental disorder that effects the brains development. It is characterized by affecting communication, cognition and social interaction. The spectrum of the disorders ranges from a mild condition called Asperger’s syndrome to a more severe form, which severely impairer’s development. The Office of Communications and Public Liaison states that the disorder affects one and eighty-eight children, however ASD effects boys more frequently than girls (Office of Communications and Public Liaison, 2013). ASD emerges in all age, ethnic and socioeconomic groups. The significant varied character and severity of the disorder is why ASD is considered a spectrum that poses a broad range of symptoms.
Another inequality that African Americans faced in the Consumers’ Republic was during the 1950s and 1960s, when African Americans were discriminated against from accessing housing in suburbia. After the postwar period, suburbia saw a 45 percent increase in growth because American citizens wanted to live the “American Dream” by living in a fancy neighbourhood with white picket fences, cars, and children, demonstrating the status of a middle class citizen (p. 195). White Americans left major metropolitan cities and went to the suburbs because African American veterans were overcrowding these areas after the war. White Americans viewed African Americans as beacons of greater poverty and crime and continued this fear as they moved to the suburbs because they believed that if their neighbourhood became racially intermixed then their property value would fall (p. 213). The first sort of
In this article, Squires and Kubrin argue that place, race, and privilege interact and combine to play a large role in the unequal opportunities that different citizens have in metropolitan areas across the United States. They first explain the existence of “bad” neighborhoods in these metropolitan areas and attempt to describe their development over time. They discuss how place has played a role in this. For example, they discuss sprawl, which they define as “a pattern of development associated with outward expansion, low-density housing and commercial development, fragmentation of planning…, auto-dependent transport, and segregated land use patterns” (48). They explain how sprawl has negatively affected inner-city neighborhoods. Additionally, the authors discuss the impact of race on the formation of unequal life opportunities. Racial minorities do not have access to the same opportunities as white people in America today. Although improving in recent years, the United States remains a highly segregation nation. This segregation, which is both a cause for and result of sprawl, is an example of how place and race interact in the formation of bad neighborhoods and unequal opportunities. Finally, the authors define how privilege affects inequality. Living in an area of large concentrated poverty as well as family social status, being born into either extreme wealth or poverty, have a large effect on the opportunities that one will have in life.
Autism was first discovered by Leo Kanner in 1943, he labeled it as early infantile autism. Most causes of autistic children before Kanner’s discovery were thought to be possessed and were put through very inhumane conditions. Autism is the prototypical form of a spectrum of related, complex, neuro developmental disorders referred to as autistic spectrum disorders (ASDs), also known as pervasive developmental disorders (PDDs) (Berry 73). The main symptom of Autism is the inability to easily communicate and interact with others. A cure for autism has not been discovered, but there are reports of some children that have naturally recovered. Symptoms are noticed in early years of life, normally around the age of three. The onset of the disease must be before the age of three years (Berry 73). The families with an autistic child have to adjust their daily activities around the child at all times. It is very difficult for an autistic child to be in a crowded area or in new environments.
Autism, or autism spectrum disorder, refers to a range of conditions characterized by challenges with social skills, repetitive behaviors, speech and nonverbal communication, as well as by unique strengths and differences (autism speaks 2012). Often known as the childhood disease, is anything but that. It is a disease, a neuro-development disorder that is highly costly through one’s life. There are different levels of autism, different spectrums. Such as Asperger’s to high-functioning Autism. The earliest signs of Autism date back to the 12th century, when physicians and scientist thought it was part of the schizorphic disorder. Although there are many medications that can be given to kids and adults with autism as well as therapies there is
Autism tend to emerge between 12 and 18 months of age. A few babies and little
Urban sprawl is a widespread concern that impacts land use, transportation, social and economic development, and most importantly our health. Poorly planned development is threatening our health, our environment and our quality of life. Sprawl is blamed for many things such as asthma and global warming, flooding and erosion, extinction of wildlife, and most importantly the public health such as social isolation and obesity due to people driving everywhere. Building offices, homes, shops, schools and other buildings influences the building of roads, transit and other transportation modes. This relationship that can lead to safe, walkable, diverse and lively communities or out of control, poorly planned urban sprawl. Unfortunately sprawl has been winning and the public health is at risk.
First off, autism is not a form of mental retardation despite what the general public may have you believe. In actuality, autism, which was first described by Kanner (1943) in his study of 11 children with “autistic disturbances of affective contact” (US: American Psychological Ass...
Every year doctors diagnose thousands of adults and children with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Due to the growing awareness of autism and recent developments in technology, scientists and doctors can now discover and observe the effects of autism on society, and people. Starting with its discovery, researchers have been able to diagnose people more effectively. Doctors are beginning to discover what causes this disorder, and are currently trying to find ways to prevent and treat it. Many places have opened their doors to people with this disorder, creating autistic friendly environments where people are patient and understanding. Schools have also become accommodating to autistic children and adults. Autism also puts great strain on family and home lives.
Have you ever had a dream of moving outside the city and living with your wife, husband or kids with about an acre of land. Well if your dream becomes reality, than you are participating in Urban Sprawl. Urban Sprawl is the expanding of a city over its rural land with single-family homes in low-density neighborhoods. Low-density neighborhoods, with no transportation options are increasing energy costs. My cure is multiple story housing inside the city. Urban Sprawl is negative, because it causes bad health and environmental effects on society.
children are diagnosed with Autism. Autistic children are not always the same, there are children diagnosed with different types of Autism.
Autism was discovered in the early 1900. It was then used to name a range of different neuropsychological conditions. The Term Autism is derived from the word “autos” that in Greek means self. This word was used because Autistic people usually keep to themselves and keep away from social interactions. The first person to use this term was a Eugen Bleuler. He was a Swiss Psychiatrist. He started this in 1911 and he used this to refer to certain symptoms from schizophrenia. The term became used in the USA in the 1940’s. It was then used by a doctor from John Hopkins University to name withdrawn behavior that he observed by children.
Autism is a developmental disorder which affects many small aspects of the person's life and can sometimes affect major parts. Autism affects 1 in 68 children and for most it’s a lifelong
The essay; ”Living with strangers,” written by Siri Hustvedt deals with the attitude of urban living in New York City. There are many different rules of living between the country side and the city and there exist many unspoken rules in all cultures and societies. Siri Hustvedt tells us that she grew up in the country side rural Minnesota were it was a custom to greet everyone you met or else you could be accused of the worst possible sin, snobbery. Then she moved to New York City in 1978. Here she discovered how unpractical it would be to greet every person she met. Siri quickly learnt the simple survival law of the New Yorkers: Pretend it isn’t happening. The title “Living with strangers” refers to the paradox that we are becoming more isolated while being surrounded by increasingly more people.