They are, kind of, hilarious.
The newest map hits close to home. And by home, I mean the greater Los Angeles area. The part of the world that Your Blog has lived in for 31 years.
Your PC lives in the Los Angeles South Bay. Identified on the map as "Middle Class People of Color," south of the 105. That is only semi-accurate. I would call it, "The most ethnically diverse, middle class neighborhood in America."
White, black, Latino, Asians from various countries, and likewise, various Middle Easterners.
Democrats, Republicans, Independents. Progressives and Conservatives.
A quick observation of area churches tells me that we have a lot of vaguely Baptist, store-front Christians, Seventh Day Adventists, a reasonable assortment of standard Protestants, a handful of Catholics, but not many. A fair number of Muslims. But, mysteriously, no Jews. Likewise, there are no Congregational, United Church of Christ or Unitarian churches in the area. Which strikes your Uncle PC as weird.
Atheists, like me, don't have churches. So, there is no way to gauge that population.
But, what I am trying to get at is this...
We are all neighbors. Coexisting, peacefully, side-by-side, in a small, suburban neighborhood.
We know our neighbors. Maybe not as well as we should. But more so than the current stereotype of the modern, urban suburb.
Our South Bay neighborhood, officially known as "Bodger Park" and unofficially, by long time residents and natives, as "The Maze," (because of the weirdly designed street layout,) is not only, virtually, crime free, is also the only neighborhood in Los Angeles county that did not go "underwater" during the Bush administration's real estate crash.
The area to the immediate east marked "gangs," was accurate 20 years ago. But not so much, anymore.
Mrs. Blog has been a teacher in the area just east of the 110 marked "Factories, Poor Folks, Discount Furniture and Gangs," for nearly 30 years. Mostly accurate. But, Your Blog has noticed, over the last 8 years or so, a marked improvement in the area's economy. Not a gentrification. The area has been mostly Latino for about 20 years. But a rather fast improvement in overall income in the area. My theory has been, recently, vindicated by the development of several higher end shopping centers in the area. I'm talking about major grocery chains flanked by Starbucks and Jamba Juices, etc., right across the street from those discount furniture stores.
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Before I log out for the night...
A great big Happy Mother's Day, to Moms everywhere.
My sisters are Moms. My wife is a Mom. Many of my coworkers are Moms.
Happy Mother's Day to all of you!
And an extra special Happy Mother's Day to my own Mom...
... who "likes" my posts, whether she "gets" them or not. And has not washed my mouth out with soap, no matter how vulgar I get.
I love you, Mom!
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