more happy thoughts! man, it's becoming a trend!!!
There was a parents' meeting tonight at Will's preschool which, honestly, I'd been dreading all day. But I came away loving that place!!! One of my goals as a mother was to create community for my children, and I think that we are doing that with our involvement with the co-op. There are so many cool families that we've met there, and i'm happy that my children have relationships with these people. that was something I didn't have as a kid -- my parents definitely didn't get into the idea of "community". they knew their neighbors, but almost never went to a party at ther homes. they never went to the movies or dinner with anyone unrelated to them. i don't recall my parents EVER having friends over while I was a teenager and very rarely during my childhood. I thought it was normal, I guess, at the time -- I don't really remember. But now I think that maybe it's not. How do you get through life without other people?
But the preschool feels like community. we had a great discussion tonight about how difficult it is that children are seen and treated as "future citizens" in our culture rather than active citizens. there's was a lot of talk about creating family-friendly community, and making children visible socially and politically. it would be cool to live in a place where there are plenty of public spaces that are "okay" for children and that serve something other than cheeseburgers. "family-friendliness" is definitely not one of atlanta's strengths (with a few exceptions). but i do see it around here which is cool.
david & i sit on the front porch and sometimes imagine what it was like in cabbagetown 80 years ago. all these house so close together, no air conditioning, no cars. people just out on their front porches after a day of working with one another at the mill. that had to be some hella strong community!
But the preschool feels like community. we had a great discussion tonight about how difficult it is that children are seen and treated as "future citizens" in our culture rather than active citizens. there's was a lot of talk about creating family-friendly community, and making children visible socially and politically. it would be cool to live in a place where there are plenty of public spaces that are "okay" for children and that serve something other than cheeseburgers. "family-friendliness" is definitely not one of atlanta's strengths (with a few exceptions). but i do see it around here which is cool.
david & i sit on the front porch and sometimes imagine what it was like in cabbagetown 80 years ago. all these house so close together, no air conditioning, no cars. people just out on their front porches after a day of working with one another at the mill. that had to be some hella strong community!