A run down Poverty Lane

As I went running this morning, I found myself in a pretty rundown area. I have no idea about its relative poverty, but it was pretty overwhelming. At first it was not disturbing because it looked like a place where people used to live - houses with boards in their windows, burnedout cars, unchained dogs. Return to the houses - they were small. I mean as small as my room in New York City small, with some windows not even boarded up. And then it hit me, as a car or two started, that people actually lived here. People, in America, live in aggregations of concrete huts that make trailor parks look like luxury developments. And then, at the top of the hill, was a development built with the help of government aid. Here there were no extra burned out cars. The streets were paved (unlike before). There were even sidewalks and fire hydrants. The cars even looked like decent cars. It was like I had left the Indian Ghetto and had traveled to 1950. It was bizarre. I am not sure how peolpe get in that neighborhood, but what a difference!

Also on the college yesterday, the woman made the point that "our elders" sanctioned and encouraged the advancement of the college. She also made the point that they now have their first female elder. The more things change, the more things stay the same....