Oh, gosh, I love books!!!! I just got a couple of impulse purchases from Amazon, and I must be the biggest geek ever (no shame!) because here I am, staying up late to read...Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community by Robert D. Putnam. Isn't that the book everyone (except me--I read Savage Inequalities) had to read in college and absolutely loathed because it was long and boring? Oh, but it's sociology! (I'm so excited! And I far from loathed Savage Inequalities, btw.)
Anyways, I've only read a few pages of the introduction, but I can't wait to read more 😊 I look forward to learning more about how we got to where we are right now--a bit (or a lot) stunted in our social organizations and sense of community--and what can we do about it?
I thought of how my parents were involved in social groups when I was young. I think they did stuff with small groups through church, and I remember them having regular get-togethers with friends. We did a cookie exchange with our neighbors every Christmas. But now, I'm not really sure what kinds of groups they are involved in. I think my mom might still do a group through church--or did she stop that? She used to volunteer, but I'm pretty sure that's over. I can't think of a consistent social group my dad has been a part of in the recent past... They were both friendly with the neighbors across the street, but those neighbors moved out to the west coast a few months ago.
As for me, I've lived in Madison a little over a year now, and have yet to really find "my people". Admittedly, I haven't made a lot of effort to look--or wait, have I? I did a fair amount of volunteering last fall, and have gone to a couple knitting meetups. I've taken some classes--a one-day art class, a weekend dogsledding (eep!) workshop, a couple months of ballroom dance, and three semester-long credit classes at the community college. I tried out the local Buddhist meditation group a few times, and went to the Unitarian Church a handful of times too. Nothing really made me feel like I was part of a community. Maybe I'm trying the wrong groups?
I'm not the most outgoing personality, and certainly that works against me, but I do have the suspicion that it's just harder to make friends nowadays. Are we just socially inept? Okay, that's not quite what Bowling Alone is about, as far as I can tell--it's more community/social networks than friendships. But it seems related. It's hard to stay involved when the connections don't seem to quite jell. I went to a knitting meetup tonight--there were 6 other women there. No one introduced herself (including me). Maybe they all knew each other really well and were wondering who the heck I was, but it was weird.
Who the heck am I, anyways? Haha. I'm a girl who loves books. Geeky books, all the books. So grateful for books!
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