Recently, I read an Associated Press assessment of how the American suburbs are no longer “your father’s suburbs of the 1950s and 1960s” and have become educated communities with vibrant arts scenes, and where Brazilian grocers and Vietnamese nail salons reside joyfully next to one another. Civic leaders in the city of Shawnee and county… Continue reading American Suburbs As Cultural Trope: Any Juice Left?
Day: July 5, 2010
“Vibrant” Means “Squalid”: Celebrating 7 Years of Vibrancy
Vibrant! Nothing wrong with vibrancy, is there? Actually, there is trouble in River City and it is vibrancy. In 2010, when I wrote the piece below, I had identified a certain usage of the term vibrant to mean, basically, a squalid, crime-ridden city area of some diversity that needed a positive spin and so: vibrant! I… Continue reading “Vibrant” Means “Squalid”: Celebrating 7 Years of Vibrancy