tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-909873906945302299.post1427824813640513225..comments2023-06-04T08:20:57.435-04:00Comments on Port Reporter Unlimited: Your weekly dose: Yeah, I do like living in GloucesterGillian Swarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16075628273664457571noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-909873906945302299.post-91415570001908329002010-07-19T13:34:46.419-04:002010-07-19T13:34:46.419-04:00Don't know about Flint, this neighborhood in F...Don't know about Flint, this neighborhood in Fishtown, right near Shaws, is pretty darn diverse in my eyes.<br /><br />I ran the AIDS programs for HES on the North Shore through almost all the 90's. <br /><br />Helped form the now defunct Greater Nbpt AIDS Initiative, the als defunct Cape Ann AIDS task Force, and the Ryan White funded consortium known as OASIS - ORganized AIDS Services Integrating Support.<br /><br />Saw PLENTY of bigotry, especially antigay bigotry, even in a "no place for hate" community like Nbpt, even with a lesbian, albeit deeply closeted, mayor at that point in time.<br /><br />I love both Nbpt and Gloucester, but they are as different as night and day and Gliucester is FAR MORE genuinely diverse than Nbpt. I don't think that point can be disputed.macsurfnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-909873906945302299.post-31058093105434679672010-07-19T08:16:05.779-04:002010-07-19T08:16:05.779-04:00Interesting, MacSurf: I was a buddy for 7 years, l...Interesting, MacSurf: I was a buddy for 7 years, late 80s into the 90s, plus I worked for the Boston AIDS Consortium, mid-90s. Wondering if I ever ran into you!<br /><br />On another note, I live in the downtown area, pretty close to you if you're close to little Shaw's. But hailing originally (long before Malden) from Flint, MI, I have a very different sense of "diversity"!SJShttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11371234696713041831noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-909873906945302299.post-73219882079292125132010-07-14T18:29:00.437-04:002010-07-14T18:29:00.437-04:00To SJS,
I am aware of the ugly and unfortunate in...To SJS,<br /><br />I am aware of the ugly and unfortunate incident of the mixed race couple experiencing some idiot yell "white Power" as they passed through the crowd to go home after watching the Horribles parade.<br /><br />Dollars to donuts says the idiot was schnockered. Not a single person in the rest of the crowd, as the woman who experienced the insult said in her letter, joined in.<br /><br />I recall one year, back in the 1990's when Nbpt held a World AIDS Day candle ligt vigil in Market Square, a half a dozen cars circling the square several times, blowing their horns, and the people in the cars screaming all kinds of ugly things about AIDS and gay people.<br /><br />I don't know where you live in Gloucester, geographically it's a pretty big city and some parts of it are, especially Lanesville, Annisquam, the back Shore, and Magnolia, lily white, but downtown, Portagee Hill,and Fort Square are anything but "lily white".<br /><br />They are neighborhoods rich in all kinds of genuine diversity, from the ethnic and linguistic, to the socio-economic.<br /><br />Don't get me wrong, I do love Newburyport. But I chuckle when I see "no place for hate" signs as I enter town and, having been involved in gay rights and AIDS issues for years in the region, that it celebrates tolerance and diversity.<br /><br />I mean, who's to "hate" when everybody's basically the same in a town?<br /><br />In terms of tolerance and diversity, I only half joke when I say Nbpt is like Ptown, it celebrates tolerance and diversity so long as it is affluent, gay, and overwhelmingly white.<br /><br />I don't mean to be flip here.<br /><br />There is somethng comical about Nbpt "celebrating" diversity and being "tolerant" when it is one of the most homogenous communities I have ever lived in my 53 years on this planet.<br /><br />Sure, it makes for great politically correct, feel good symbolism, but it is laughingly devoid of any genuine steel or substance.macsurfnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-909873906945302299.post-44183676747008115432010-07-14T11:56:05.660-04:002010-07-14T11:56:05.660-04:00I am going to disagree (slightly) with Michael.
...I am going to disagree (slightly) with Michael. <br /><br />For a community diversity should never be a goal unto itself but needs to develop naturally. It can't be forced. <br /><br />There will always be some who reject it, and there will always be non-diverse communities (and that flows BOTH ways; I don't see a lot of upper middle-class white folks moving to Lawrence in order to partake in the diversity of that particular city). <br /><br />- The CarrotAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-909873906945302299.post-36213487025395318682010-07-14T10:20:24.463-04:002010-07-14T10:20:24.463-04:00There is some diversity in Gloucester (more than i...There is some diversity in Gloucester (more than in Newburyport, yes). But having moved to Gloucester from Malden, the former seems at times blindly lily-white. Did you see the editorial about the Horribles parade in the GDT last week?SJShttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11371234696713041831noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-909873906945302299.post-87690912681927481532010-07-13T08:34:51.119-04:002010-07-13T08:34:51.119-04:00oregano's does pump music out into the streetoregano's does pump music out into the streetAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-909873906945302299.post-79969473917061376702010-07-13T00:05:51.139-04:002010-07-13T00:05:51.139-04:00I have to say that I completely understand where y...I have to say that I completely understand where you are coming from Michael. While I don't mind a little upscale in a community--the lack of diversity in Newburyport--culturally, racially, ethnically, etc--is one of the things that stood out when I spent a couple days there a few years ago. It is a lovely city by the sea--but it screams a uniformity/homogeneity --at least on the surface. Since I haven't spent very much time in New England towns in general (I'm a NYer through and through), I wasn't sure if Newburyport was typical of a lot of communities in the area. Never been to Gloucester--but it's nice to hear that there are more diverse places in that neck of the woods. Your posts are always interesting and provocative.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com