It figures.

[heathey]

P. is off doing interview rounds in NYC and DC yesterday and today, so it's been just me and the Daisy since we got back from the wedding. A little space is always nice, and Daisy and I were snuggling on the couch last night eating Pizza Rolls and watching that peculiar Kid Nation show. We live in a building abutting some train tracks (we didn't

Comments

[heathey]

I guess my feelings of dumb-ness stem from the fact that I *do* feel safer in Chicago than I do in Knoxville. I am always sensitive about seeming to ride the high-and-mighty Northern Horse, and I know to a lot of people down here that would seem like a remarkably ignorant and insulting statement. Where the actual degree of correct-ness of the statement lies probably depends on your point of view.

I haven't lived here nearly as long as I did in Chicago, and never will, as we're moving in eight months again anyway. I still feel like an outsider in many ways. However, that being said, I do follow the local news and issues and make it a point to familiarize myself with what I can, along with my own (albeit limited) personal experiences On The Street, as it were.

It's different, for sure. Whether or not it is a better or worse situation than Chicago probably depends upon your views on crime. Personally, I don't like it, and I feel like I've at least seen enough to feel that that probably wouldn't change if we stayed here longer. I try to attribute that to my own personal feelings and biases or ignorance rather than risk offending someone with a value judgement, because I don't want to be the snotty city girl.

I also know that it's all probably because my own family called me snotty and spoiled when I moved down here for saying I didn't feel safe, so I probably just feel like I'm not supposed be a brat and be upset about it.

[voxel]

Well, we did move into a slightly higher crime area. The west side of Knoxville is considerably more safer than our side. That said, your family is out of line. It's a very unfamiliar area for you, and quite frankly, I know that it is normal to be uncomfortable with unfamiliar areas, as it is how I felt in much of Chicago for many of the years that I lived there.

[heathey]

See, I had a completely different reaction, and I remember you telling me that and being surprised that you felt out of place for so long. I guess I just never felt that adjustment period when I moved to Chicago, except for the public transportation confusion.

My brother is still an ass, though.

[mollpeartree]

Are there fewer people around there in general? I find being out after dark in the suburbs (in Omaha or OKC) incredibly creepy even though I know objectively they have only a tiny fraction of the crime we see in Chicago. (If you rely on the idea that there is always somebody within shouting distance as your security blanket, then that's your security blanket I guess.)

[heathey]

There are fewer people out in general, although it's definitely an improvement over last year when we lived out in the boondocks last year and no one could hear me scream. I was a little surprised when we moved down here that there wasn't more foot traffic, but it's kind of an odd part of town, I guess, so the people patterns are irregular. I think we thought from what we had heard that it would be more developed. At least I did.

I feel the same way as you when I go home to my parents' -- they've lived there for over 30 years and no one in the neighborhood has ever been robbed. They live on a huge lot on a quiet street and it's creeped me out my entire life. Even when I was little I thought it was weird. Who knows what's out there?

[voxel]

Many observers makes uncertainty disappear. If a green skinned alien with tentacles appeared on the street in the Old Town, someone might scream or something, or it might appear on the evening news. At our old place, if a green skinned alien with tentacles appeared on the street, maybe the feral cat colony or the empty sub-division would see him, and we wouldn't know about it otherwise.