On June 23, 2008, The New York Times published an Op-Ed by Peter Lovenheim that got us thinking. The premise was simple: "why don't we know the people who live next door?" There are all sorts of reasons to know your neighbors, and yet most of us turn the other way or barely smile politely when confronted with a stranger who lives 2 doors down.
Let's be clear: we don't want to camp out in anyone's living room - or even stay overnight like Lovenheim did. But we can learn more about what's going on in the 'hood. This is a blog about the goings-on of our neighbors and our neighborhood, Noe Valley. We encourage comments. We welcome tips and inquiries.
Thanks for reading.
Update 11/12/08: Who are we?
2 comments:
Hee,
I know my neighbors just like they know me... unwittingly!
Windows open on a hot evening, you can hear everything they say... their laundry room faces your bathroom they can see everything you do... it's rear window!
I recently learned without my neighbor knowing I did (and without intentionally listening) that they have a rocky relationship, he's in anger management, she lies to him...
I am very friendly to them though, I have no issues... we all hate our landlord and that sort of bonds everyone in the building... "did you see him today?" "did he talk to you today?"
I only know the neighbors in the upstairs flat. I certainly know what the neighbors across the way and on either side of us look like, but that's the extent of it. It could have something to do with the fact on one side they're dealing some pretty hard drugs that I don't want to know anything about... or that we're on Clipper Street and people here just don't linger out in front that much... or that my neighbors across the street own the absolute ugliest place in NV and aren't embarassed to "enhance" this fact with their ghetto-ass play yard on top of their garage... 12 feet above the sidewalk with no barrier that would protect their kids from possible death and the neighbors from possible blindnes... I don't know. I don't find NV all that neighborly.
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