Our Shaded Neighborhood

Cross-posted from Highland Park on Chattarati.com!

I’ve heard people say Highland Park has a “front-porch culture,” which I take to mean that we have front porches, and we use them. This bears repeating because it’s deceptively simple. The front porch is a uniquely American creation, one that sprang up out of the quick immigration of huge numbers of people to the hot climates of the South. These porches also represented the growth of leisure time, as well as community—two things we all hope to have in spades. They began to exist as towns developed, before cars, where neighbors walked up and down sidewalks and waved or called to one another as they passed the cool comfort of the soon-ubiquitous shaded, outdoor entrance ways.

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Defining Highland Park

Cross-posted from Highland Park on Chattarati.com!

Residents of Highland Park, both new and old, are used to lively debates about the neighborhood we’ve chosen to call home. As transplants from the Atlanta area, my partner and I were surprised at the perceptions of locals from other parts of Chattanooga—revealed in questions like “Are you scared?” and condescending comments: “Bless your heart. You’re not from here and you don’t know better.”

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