January 25, 2005 at 7:55 AM

Posted in 'Ruminations'

I can feel my humility draining away. Today I got indignant when my beeper for the urbanization didn't work and I had to wait for the guard to open the gate. Man, I was so much less presumptuous when I lived in a $20,000 house.

| Revision: 1 | (7 comments) | Comments are closed for this entry.

Comments

Posted by Jenn 26 minutes later

Heheh, what's an urbanization, and why the hell do you have a beeper for it?

Posted by Dan 15 minutes later

It's like a neighborhood, except walled in and with a security guard at the gate, and with guards that patrol the streets. If you live there you have a beeper to open the gate, and if you don't then you have to tell the guard your name and where you're going and he calls the house to be sure you are expected. It's like a gated community, except from what I gather, gated communities are sort of rare and upscale and pretentious in the US. Here, it's pretty much the standard method of living; I can only think of one friend off the top of my head who doesn't live in an urbanization. Most people who can afford it live in them, because it's nice to have someone to keep the drug dealers out.

I was actually shocked when I went to the states and learned that most people live completely exposed to the world; you can just walk up to anybody's house and there's no one to stop you. Here, it's pretty much standard practice when going to visit someone: you leave your urbanization, drive to theirs, talk to their guard, and then drive to their house once he lets you in.

Posted by Jenn 12 minutes later

Yeah, sociologists often talk about gated communities as a representation of the growing gap between rich and poor, and the enforced isolation of social class.

Posted by Dan 24 minutes later

http://www.usps.com/...ssstds/prgeninfo.htm

Posted by Bryan 1 hour, 56 minutes later

Hmm, so does that clasify my neighboorhood as an urbanization? We have beepers and have to open the gate for you :)

Posted by Dan 5 hours, 32 minutes later

No, you live in a gated community, elitist pigs. :)

Posted by Egroeg 1 day, 11 hours later

I have lived int eh ultimate gated community - car bombs, suicide bombers, mortars, rockets, and occasional gunfire. Gates can make you a target too. Some of the worst neighborhoods in the States are "gated" - in Wapato, Washington, some of the Native American projects are gated, and they are not safe at all. Makes you wonder if the gates are to keep the residents safe from passerbys or vice versa.