Birds of a Feather tend to Flock Together.

Little boxes on the hillside,
Little boxes made of ticky tacky
Little boxes on the hillside,
Little boxes all the same,
There's a pink one and a green one
And a blue one and a yellow one
And they're all made out of ticky tacky
And they all look just the same.

And the people in the houses
All went to the university
Where they were put in boxes
And they came out all the same
And there's doctors and lawyers
And business executives
And they're all made out of ticky tacky

And they all play on the golf course
And drink their martinis dry
And they all have pretty children
And the children go to school,
And the children go to summer camp
And then to the university
Where they are put in boxes
And they come out all the same

My racism pieces are all done but as promised I wanted to address a post about Stowe specifically and more broadly our  human tendencies to form communities of "people like me".  As America has became "more diverse" I suppose one could imagine that  this "diversity"  would happen "community by community" .  In other words they would also become more diverse.  My own Observation is this is not really true.  In fact our Red State/Blue State  cultural divide has actually increased as we have segregated ourselves less on racial/ethnic divides and more on "like thinking" divides.  This is the result of many complex social and economic changes that have enabled more movement of people based on lifestyles, beliefs and economics and less based on ethnicity and forced segregation.

However, "voluntary" segregation" of like interests and like thinking can yield very similar results.

Before discussing Stowe let me cite two interesting examples.

When Blog follower Lester Wurful and his "Faithful and Obedient" companion Joan visited us in Winter Park we took a 4 hour train ride to Glenwood Hot Springs.  On that ride  we met a black gentleman named "Antonio" who was living his lifelong dream of being a train conductor.  After a year of applying he got a job with Amtrak and quit his job as a manger with UPS in a small  Kansas town.  In chatting with him he said the UPS position was a really great job....but he and his wife and children were the only black family in the town.  He said they were openly  welcomed and embraced by this "all white" community.  I had to laugh when he described how he and his wife taught Sunday School at the local Lutheran Church..."Imagine that" he said..".me a lifelong gospel singing Baptist!". But he always longed to be a train conductor and jumped at the chance to meet people riding the Zephyr  between Denver and Grand Junction every day. So he retired from UPS which now offered him the opportunity to not only pursue his dream job but to move to a "more diverse" Colorado Springs community after almost 10 years in a small white community in rural Kansas.  He added he still he occasionally misses his many friends in Kansas.   Our long conversation with "Antonio" was icing on the cake for our train ride.

Speaking of Kansas while riding the Winter Park bus to skiing one morning this year we met a not so nice couple from  rural Kansas (in my opinion) who hated Kansas, and their "Republican" voting neighbors (he was an "educated" man who was a surgeon in the small towns only hospital).  They were looking to move to Boulder to be with more "forward" thinking people.  They did nothing but spew hatred about their neighbors.  Both my Faithful and "Obedient Companion" could not get away from the bus fast enough.  However this is so indicative of how our great political divide is enhanced by like minded reasons for self segregation.

Two very distinct opinions on "backwater" Kansas from two distinctly different kinds of people...give me Antonio living his dream over that Doctor and his snobbish wife anytime.  But no doubt both were inclined to ultimately "self" segregate.

Which brings me to Stowe.  A place, despite my occasional disparaging remarks, I grew to love very much.  Like Winter Park it is a ski town in a beautiful setting. My  own "self segregation" was based on a new found love for what I thought was skiing.  However,  as my friend Lester reminded me that while in college I often expressed an interest in becoming a "forest ranger".  He even observed on one of our hikes that when  I retired I found places to actually live that old  dream!.. It was a most astute observation about a "forgotten" dream from almost 50 years ago! Ok so maybe I decided to move to the mountains for more than just the skiing.  

With that aside I must come back to Stowe...for it is definitely "monolithically" white.  Populated by wealthier weekenders of all "political persuasions " and a core of full time relatively wealthy residents  who are virtually all "politically progressive" .  I actually enjoyed that diversity of thought and found that living among those who are of different views quite stimulating (unlike that Kansas couple).   I was one of the few "Republicans" in town but never was worried about expressing my thoughts.  However, I found it discouraging that those who so passionately expressed their hatred of "deplorables" took daily actions that would suppress any real ethnic or racial diversity.

One example I have cited (low cost Housing exclusion) are conflicts caused by a desire of its' residents to keep the town a pristine mountain hideaway.  It is one I frankly like, and I too have financially supported.  But honestly there are not many "black" skiers and I say that as a matter of reality.   I cannot change that and that is one reason for the monolithic "whiteness" of Stowe.

But some "keep it the way it is attitudes" are much more subtle.  When I was on our homeowners board I was approached by a neighbor who wanted one of our unused tennis courts converted into a basketball court.  You see there are very few courts (outside the school gym) in town.  I thought it was a great idea!  Unfortunately it was resoundingly opposed as a "potential nuisance".  I cannot imagine frankly any real attraction to Stowe for black families if their kids cannot find recreation "embedded" in their own life experience.    A minor point, well maybe, but a real one to anyone with kids.  Even if they were economically able to move to Stowe.

This leads me to my final "Observation".  If you really want to make the world "diverse" racially then do so in your own actions and behavior.  But please do not spot platitudes on how America is so racially divided just to virtue signal your "beliefs"  to others about how so many of your fellow countrymen are "racist".    Not everything is  "about" race hatred.

My next post will be from Stowe!

With that I bid you Adieu