Like Minded Community

Downtown San Antonio

During my 10 hour study session yesterday, I took a short break to check out a program the Student Programming Board was putting on in the front of the library, FREE MASSAGES! So obviously I got one. My massause was named Alma, this older lady who was very outgoing. I told her that I am an Urban Studies and Business major and we talked from there. When I told her what an Urban Studies major entailed, she mentioned something that kind of struck me as very interesting. She said "What I would like is if there were communities that had like minded people: for example communities with only painters, or communities with only writers. A place where people can specialize in a certain thing, something they love doing and that is what everyone in the community would do.

When I got to thinking about this, I realized that our cities/communities are set up like this to a great extent. One example is how cities are racially and economically segregated. People live in communities with people who are similar in race and economic status. Obviously, this is not 100 percent true, but it is still very prominent in our cities. This is not the only way communities are separated. If you look on a broader level, places like Austin, San Antonio, New Orleans, and San Francisco are also places where people are on what I like to call "the same page. Everyone is into the same things. San Antonio for example, is represented by three things: Alamo, the Spurs, and Breakfast Tacos, and its residents are proud of that. People from New Orleans love seafood, Mardi Gras, and the Saints. Also, why do you think they say "Keep Austin Weird". Its because of the people who live there. They are very similar. Thats just the way it is. On a more specific level, universities are set up that way also. Most everyone is living together on a campus to get an education. We are living around people who have the same goals and ambitions as ourselves.

So although what Alma, my massuese, said is not true completely, it is true to a serious extent. It's something we really never think about, but it surrounds our lives. We thrive in places where people are like us, places where we all can enjoy the same things and similar interests.
Shoutout to Jackie and Brooke!