Awareness of Audience and Voice

My response:

I really like what you have said! Although I have never moved around my family every summer took a road trip to somewhere, so traveled. I would consider myself well rounded in this manner. As soon as you had said and as Brooks said one minute you are in a crunchy place and then next in a big city it reminded me of all the times I have driven not only through Oregon but California. We have Los Angeles which is high class, you have to look all fancy to even look upon, and a few minutes you are in San Diego which has more "Mexicans" and lower standard of living (not to offend) but it is what it is.

I think even when we are on the top of the food chain we still feel like we judged. Yes, that person may look down on others but they have to try SO hard to be on the top and act certain ways and look certain ways. Even the top of the top are judged, because they have been put up so high. Look at it this way when a celebrity or a president does something wrong they are frowned upon. We even forget that they are just like us and mess up and make mistakes sometimes. That is kind of off topic but just referring to what you had said.

My Post:

Just the phrase "Communities provide us with a sense of stability" makes me think of my home. A place where I know I belong and can return to. I realize that is not the case with everyone, but with many people your home is where you came from, what created you, and you have family there, and you can always return there. Or even when establish your own home, it is yours and you have created a "safe zone." The trick with this phrase is it is not complete stability it is a sense. Brooks states "He or she is subtly more attached to the glorious future than to the temporary and unsatisfactory present." When he says attached, he is not saying physically but mentally, the way some of us gets attached to an idea and are disappointed when that idea cannot be reality for the time being or some other reason, but here we "the people" create this imaginary community of utopizam and get comfortable like "a sense of stability."

Communities Accept Us for Who We are?

My post:

  I do not think "communities accept us for who we are" can be said as a fact, more as an opinion. As brooks says in Our Sprawling, Supersize Utopia, "...it becomes much easier to search out and congregate with people who are basically like yourself," which to me says that we have to search out OTHER communities to be who we are. According to Brooks, as I understand, in our natural home community we either have to hide who we really are or act as if we are what our "community" standards are. 

                That is how I would assume we form "cliques" or as this chapter reveals it communities. Although even within certain or any cliques I am positive you could find students who are acting the way of that clique because they think or know they would not be "accepted" otherwise. It puzzles me why we can't just accept people for who they are and let them be that way without feeling that we cannot be accepted for who we are. We are all raised in different families and environments’ or "communities" so it would be impossible to all be alike in the accepting manner. Plus, why would we all want everyone to be just like me, or in your case you? The world would be such a bland place with so many mysteries that would never be found upon because "I" am not as creative or smart or whatever as people who are different form me.