Today in my sociology class we were talking about the basic fundamental aspects of this thing called the "sociological imagination." My professor was using an example of an american sociologist who lived in New York City who saw all this poverty around him and wanted to understand the how and why this sort of thing could happen. And while he was talking he suddenly stopped and said, "Hold on, how many of you have been to New York?" Out of over 100 students I was part of maybe 5 or 6 other students that raised their hands. I was blown away. I guess it makes sense, NYC is pretty far away from New Zealand and not a cheap or easy trip to make. But coming from a school on the east coast where NYC is something very common and most people have taken a trip down there to a place where most people haven't even been to the States was sort of grounding. The professor was also somewhat surprised and decided to start referencing some New Zealand cities instead of New York.
Similarly, I am shocked by the amount of Americans I have met that have no been to the east coast. I suppose they're all from California or somewhere similarly far west, but I was surprised none the less. I guess I have a very ethnocentric view of the world, imagining that NYC is some sort of great city everyone must have some desire to seek out at a young age. I need to shatter some world views I hold because I clearly am thinking inside a box.
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Again, I could not agree more. At the same time though, how much about the west coast do you know? I only very recently began to fathom exactly how relatively large California is, and going there only made it more apparent. Alex Patrick has two roommates, one from norcal, the other from socal, and they knew very little about each others regions.
ReplyDeleteIts ridiculous to think of how large America is. The America we're used to, the very densely populated, very build upon, northeast coast is not what the rest of America is. Not even the majority.
Yeah, I think this is especially true given that America is such a large country. But I mean, even on the East Coast there are vast differences depending on where you are - rural Pennsylvania is very different than say, Long Island, NY.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, the concept of New York City is also really powerful. I mean, even if they haven't been there, everybody knows New York (uh, although a lot of what they "know" is based on misconceptions). Especially now, I think, given that New York is the focal point of the economic meltdown thanks to Wall Street.