Hi Meltingpot Readers,
I just have to brag a little bit. As many of you loyal readers know, I grew up in Caucasia, Wisconsin, where I was often the only Cocoa Puff in a box of Kixx. In my neighborhood, at school, on the swim team, I was usually the only Black kid in the bunch. I was a happy child, but still, all that Whiteness made it difficult for me to appreciate the skin I was in.
So, when el esposo decided to start a family, one of the first things I insisted we would always do for our children, was to live in diverse neighborhoods. Unlike my parents, I wasn’t interested in integrating a neighborhood, setting my kids up to be social experiments. So far, we’ve lived in two places and both of them have proven to be multicultural wonderlands. And those two places are Fort Greene, Brooklyn and Mt. Airy, Philadelphia. Most people know how diverse a place Brooklyn is, so I don’t take any special credit for choosing that location to bring my babies into the world. But Mt. Airy was a bit of a leap of faith. But I’m so glad we took it six years ago. Of course, nothing is perfect, but it really is a neighborhood that values diversity of every kind; racial, ethnic, gender, economic, religious. And clearly, I’m not the only one who thinks so, either.
Just this week, Mt. Airy made CNN Money’s list of top-ten big city neighborhoods to live in, with the cultural diversity cited as one of the big draws. That’s my ‘hood and I’m sticking with it.
Do you love your neighborhood? Is it a meltingpot mecca? Tell me about it. You know I’m listening.
Peace!
P.S. Make sure you come back and visit on Monday, I have a great giveaway planned!
