Jess

That said, recently I’ve been encountering the opposite. I moved from a part if the city dominated by affluent white folks to a much more poor, ethnically diverse area. One would maybe think that people would be less nice hear due to fearfulness since this part of Seattle has problems. There are gangs, crime, drugs, homelessness… you know, typical urban problems that are much more apparent in this part of town. Well, the people here are way more friendly than in the upper class part of town. I never met my neighbors in the Fremont neighborhood and certainly never chatted with strangers on the street or on the busses. Here, I meet new people daily. I chat with interesting people on the bus. Everyone talks on the bus. None of that commuting in silence in this neighborhood. And I’m stopped on the street all of the time. Mostly by older black men wanting to flirt, but shrug, at least they are friendly.

So currently, I’m feeling a real sense of community in this area that I’ve never felt anywhere before. I go to community meetings now! And i want to help the gang kids stay out of trouble, but I don’t know what can be done… So I keep chatting with my neighbors about our problems. This is something that I cannot imagine happening in Fremont, Columbia, or the suburbs of California. No one seemed to take the time to notice they even had neighbors. Everyone was too busy and used their cars as a wall between themselves and the rest of the world.

I miss “College Town,” too.