Quotes About Community

There's no entrance exam. If you say you're a geek, you are a geek.

A greater awareness in architects and planners of their real value to society could, at the present, result in that rare occurrence, namely, the improvement of the quality of life as a result of architectural endeavour.

Architecture must concern itself continually with the socially beneficial distortion of the environment.

All up and down the street the houses looked like any others—but inside them were people who might be happy, or taking refuge, or steeling themselves to go out into the world, searching for something better. So many lives she would never know about, unfolding behind those doors.

For moving would never have been enough; he sees that now. It would have been the same anywhere. Children of Mixed Backgrounds Often Struggle to Find Their Place.

There aren't any Shakers in Shaker Heights," he said. "They all died out. Didn't believe in sex. They just named the town after them.

By the time they had graduated, he had fallen for Shaker Heights as well, the way Elena described it: the first planned community, the most progressive community, the perfect place for young idealists. In his own little hometown, they'd been suspicious of ideas: he'd grown up surrounded by a kind of resigned cynicism, though he'd been sure the world could be better.

Only when he's left Chinatown, and the faces around him become Black and white instead of Asian, do the flags become more sporadic, the people here apparently more confident that their loyalty will be assumed.

And we need their generosity to keep this place open. Or, just as likely, someone got nervous and got rid of it preemptively. Us public libraries--a lot of us just can't take the risk.

Everyone in Shaker Heights was talking about it that summer: how Isabelle, the last of the Richardson children, had finally gone around the bend and burned the house down.

His parents never go out or entertain; they have no dinner parties, no bridge group, no hunting buddies or luncheon pals. Like Lydia, no real friends.

A community is known by the schools it keeps.

Sometimes you almost forgot: that you didn't look like everyone else.

Most communities just happen; the best are planned":

Outside in the world, volcanoes erupted, governments rose and collapsed and bartered for hostages, rockets exploded, walls fell. But in Shaker Heights, things were peaceful, and riots and bombs and earthquakes were quiet thumps, muffled by distance.

Moody slid shrieking down the hill, backward and belly first and three at a time and once – in Trip's case – standing up like a surfer. Mrs. Richardson, perched atop the hill, applauded and cheered. Then Izzy went down

You saw it in photos, yours the only black head of hair in the scene, as if you'd been cut out and pasted in. You thought: Wait, what's she doing there? And then you remembered that 'she' was 'you'. You kept your head down and thought about school, or space, or the future, and tried to forget about it. And you did, until it happened again.

In Chinatowns, the lives of all those paper sons were fragile and easily torn. Everyone's name was false. Everyone hoped not to be found out and sent back. Everyone clustered together so they wouldn't stand out.

Facebook group using the hashtag #ourmissinghearts,

The Good Life in Shaker Heights," Cosmopolitan, March 1963

Searching for a spark of familiarity in the faces of strangers

As if no one knew what to do in the face of such tragedy except to make the heaviest, heartiest, most prosaic dish they could, to give the bereaved something solid to hold on to.

In his own little hometown, they'd been suspicious of ideas: he'd grown up surrounded by a kind of resigned cynicism, though he'd been sure the world could be better.

If they want to help the black community, why don't they make some changes to the system first instead?