People Who Live In Suburbs: Classy, Icky, or Dudes?

I'm pretty sure I would have found bacon even if Mom hadn't cooked some for me.

Bacon isn't consequence-free either, last time I checked my waistline/cholesterol/whatever. ;_;

It's just like somehow we accept that you have to pay for internet, bacon, silky clothes that are nicer to wear, etc, but we don't think that about suburban life???

I'm pretty sure being really high-density actually makes people go nuts, but that's me.

You city people pay for bacon? In the 'burbs we just

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_de4hwGSX9H4/SxM7miZovbI/AAAAAAAAAAM/SeSYB5x3D8A/s1600/push_button_receive_bacon_enjoy_bacon.jpg

Oh boo hoo, some compromises against exactly what you want to do as a totally free agent in your own fiefdom might be compromised. God.

who are you even talking to here, you incredibly crazy person

INDOOR CLIMBING

case solved

Oh that was for kkvgz and his "you can't play frisbee after your bbq if you don't have a big yard all to yourself" sob story.

haha okay, I thought my sleeping bag joke massively offended you!

That would be crazy!

apologies all around, let us hug in our apartments/condos

True lols at "enjoy bacon" -- if the future is one of those dispensing devices in every home, where do I join?

I can't stand bacon, it stinks up the house. If you live in the city, all your neighbors have to smell it. And believe me, you'll probably get a call from your landlord. On the other hand ethnic food cooking can put an entire building at ease.

It's true, I have a friend who used to live right above an Indian couple and he never had to worry about anyone smelling his copious marijuana consumption, such was the overwhelmingness of the curry odor.

It's true. I made some yesterday in the oven and the apartment smelled like a pork belly for hours, even with 10,000 candles lit.

It's true, I have a friend who used to live right above an Indian couple and he never had to worry about anyone smelling his copious marijuana consumption, such was the overwhelmingness of the curry odor.

was your friend's name Jesus because it sounds like he lived in paradise

Can I tell the story about how much CS Lewis hated onions and garlic, because these were the scents of foreign, non-English cooking??? And he made the Calormenes smell like these things, in his books, and used it to make them seem gross to his readers. Backfired, imo.

It was actually ames, iowa. heh.

Can I tell the story about how much CS Lewis hated onions and garlic, because these were the scents of foreign, non-English cooking??? And he made the Calormenes smell like these things, in his books, and used it to make them seem gross to his readers

The Calormenes also dedicated bad poetry to a bird god named Tash.

I live in the suburbs with a lot of creaky frame houses. People panic every time a neighbor barbecues. Are those ribs cooking or is someone's house on fire?

suburbanites = people who can't tell the smell of burning wood from the smell of grilling flesh

fuck manicured lawns imo stop shaving grow yr bush its totally hot

i just imagined UA getting all pretty ricky on his lawn

and... scene

Sorry, I should back up for a sec: people are WELCOME to have all the space and quiet and land and trees they want, there's plenty of it. But they'll also have to live in a rural(ish) area and deal with the consequences of that.
--Back up the lesbian canoe (Laurel)

alt: they'll be willing to pay for the effects of their lifestyle. my argument had never been that we shouldn't allow suburbs or that people who want to live in them are evil, just that they shouldn't be artificially cheap. I'm for private jets too - I just think you should have to pay about a bazillion dollars* to own one.

*est 2011 figures

urbanites should have to pay more for their consumption too! but there's some bizarre incentives in a world where it's more expensive to *not* own a car and to live in a small space in a walkable city than to own a mini-castle and a large truck.

Yeah, I don't hate on people who want to shuffle their few meager possessions from cramped little box to cramped little box, each with it's unique neighborly thumps and smells and limited views for the rest of their lives until they die. Commies.

― Land of Rap and Homies (kkvgz), Monday, April 25, 2011 2:53 PM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

just fyi not all cities are like new york either.

i like how suburban & rural can be conflated any time it seems convenient in this debate, as if ppl living in mcmansions in outer burbs are the ones farming

heres the thing that I think is like, actually we kinda should be condescending because its something people do CHOOSE to be aware of: moving into those kinds of homes is bad in any number of ways & it is a choice, and you dont have to choose to value those things, and kids can grow up to be perfectly healthy & happy in urban areas & still get to see the sun.

The real 'solution,' yes, is govt-originated structural change. But i kinda have no problem being condescending to ppl who think that a house with a big lawn and a driveway is a basic human right. admittedly i grew up in an apartment & shared a room w/ my brother until i moved out of my mom's so i might be biased about my oh-so-disadvantaged lifestyle

aero can play captain-save-a-flyover country but thats not really what we're talking about here. it isnt just brooklyn hipsters that live in urban areas & are perfectly happy with their lifestyles.

like, lots of people live here who aren't whole foods shopping npr readers or w/e the stereotype of iatee's position is

As I mentioned a long ways upthread, there are a lot of different definitions of "urban," too. I wouldn't consider most suburbs rural, but I think a lot of NYC-dwellers wouldn't really consider my neighborhood urban.

My point earlier is that pretty much everyone itt is throwing around lazy stereotypes on both sides of the argument. Not every suburb is packed with McMansions on an acre of perfectly manicured lawn either.

Wait now we're going to shit on people for having fucking driveways? I mean, they have driveways in Queens and the Bronx ffs.

Wait now we're going to shit on people for having fucking driveways?

board description

I think there might be a few houses without driveways in my neighborhood, but we have a legit (although pretty much unused) alley!

My point earlier is that pretty much everyone itt is throwing around lazy stereotypes on both sides of the argument. Not every suburb is packed with McMansions on an acre of perfectly manicured lawn either.

― 'what are you, the Hymen Protection League of America?' (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Monday, April 25, 2011 5:27 PM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

right but that's what we're talking about? & these things are hugely representative of whats wrong w/ suburbs. if every suburb was an evanston or oak park -- which hardly qualify as suburbs & are in fact cities -- then this wouldnt be a discussion

i dont see anyone here who has posted since like '05 who has said anything about people from teh suburbs being boring. iatee isnt momus afaik

btw, generally people in suburbs around here are boring

I live in a big city and live a pretty boring life.

Wait, evanston's not a suburb?

One of my friends and her bf are looking at apartments in the suburbs right now because they'll get more for their $ there. We were talking about it the other day and I was like yeah but you'll have to live in the suburbs! She was trying to explain that she wanted to and liked driving and was not really a city person. That's so opposite how I feel that it just didn't compute. I love all the shitty city stuff like crowded trains and small spaces. idk. I just really can't see myself not living at least on the outskirts of a major city. The suburbs freak me the fuck out. I look at the people who stayed in my hometown on Long Island (which is totally a McMansion suburb tbh) and I'm sorry but they're mostly awful and boring and do things like golf. A lot. And that's about it.

How big does a suburb have to be to qualify as a city?

I'm pretty boring too but somehow their lives seem worse even though I know they're probably no worse or more boring than I am in reality.

Suburbs can be cities by technical definition!

I don't even know who I'm fighting for anymore.

I live out in the country now, and there's no farms anywhere near me.

Wait, evanston's not a suburb?

Evanston, like Oak Park, is a weird case. I mean, technically they are both suburbs by definition, but huge chunks of both are structured a lot more like a city - dense, walkable, lots pf public trans, etc etc. Obviously both have exceptions (the huge lakefront houses on big lots in Evanston come to mind), but for the most part neither are like your typical image of a "suburb".

this is where you start to land in hot water imo/fyi - there's a difference between a bbq on the roof/in an NYC park and one where you can enjoy both privacy & the feeling of space. I know that that's selfish, to use a term you use upthread - and I think that's a fair criticism; but I also don't think you really speak much to what that selfishness means, what values people are also expressing when they like a family bbq. I get that, for you, solitude/privacy/space/quiet are either mystifying concepts/values or of so little importance that it's easy to table them. But understand that your values, your preferences, while both probably practical & reasonable, are fraught with the same perils that all personal values are.

^gonna keep reposting this after every dozen or so iatee/D-40/etc posts

inner-ring burbs v. outer-ring burbs, xpost

How big does a suburb have to be to qualify as a city?

It's not about size, it's about function. Like I said earlier itt, Grand Rapids, MI is a whole city that is basically one enormous suburb with almost all the disadvantages of suburbia or even rural areas, and almost none of the advantages of an urban area unless you live in a tiny enclave at the center of the old city.

Good plan. x-post

I think the main problem comes when people feel they deserve, are entitled to, or are socially mandated to live in a way that results in them consuming a disproportionate amount of resources.

I have a lot more sympathy for the family who wants a chill backyard bbq than I do for my coworker who's divorced/single with no kids and still thinks she needs a ritzy suburban house that has 4+ bedrooms because that's what someone of her economic/social status is supposed to have.

insisting that this thread is even about 'values' is momusian to begin with

Rapids, MI is a whole city that is basically one enormous suburb with almost all the disadvantages of suburbia or even rural areas, and almost none of the advantages of an urban area unless you live in a tiny enclave at the center of the old city.

sounds like Miami.