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Originally Posted by sun surfer
I wondered something similar. While the video seems well-intentioned it also seems disingenuous as a few things don't add up. A wine-bar/bookstore doesn't seem like the best way to combat some perceived lack of book availability, especially for children- one of whom is a large part of the video. But, still, it's something, and I get the impression less that she added 'bookstore' in as a gimmick and more that she is trying to offer both a wine bar (which may also be rarer in the Bronx) and a bookstore to improve the quality of culture in the area on both counts, thought a combination of the two would have a better chance of succeeding than just one or the other, and found her promotional focus in this video anyway more on the lack-of-bookstores-in-the-Bronx side than the wine bar side.
As to the claim of lack of self-worth, it sounds a bit exaggerated, but I do see what she's getting at. If you live or grow up in an area with less access to cultural/intellectual offerings despite being a built-up area near other built-ups areas that do have those types of offerings, then you may feel even if subconsciously more like your community and therefore you yourself for some reason don't deserve those types of offerings.
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I think it depends on the situation but in most cases, you really don't think about what the other side of town, next city over has. You just live your life.
As to the culture stuff, let's take the wine bar. Do that many people really drink wine in a bar and not with a meal? Will the people accept it or will they think this woman wants to change them?
Let me tell you about the town I grew up in. It had 3 sides and then the town next to it.
You had the upper class side, the working class side and the poor side. (Though truth be told the middle class side had some money people too). The people from the upper class side did all the cultural stuff, (sometimes the working class side did too), but the poor side never did.
(And they dang sure hid the public school for pregnant girls on the poor side: even if the demographic showed it wasn't the poor girls that were pregnant).
Even the poor high school was in a different district football wise.
Now the upper class side had the football team that pretty much went to state every year.
I know the working class didn't give much thought to culture as they had their own culture.
Note: this town also had bars and beer joints by the dozens and a few strip clubs and more than a few working girls.
You will see I mentioned the next town over. It had very few bars but higher end restaurants and shopping. Not sure about cultural stuff but I think they had high brow stuff. Cost of living was higher across the board over there.
So the word on the street was one town was good for partying and the other town was good for raising kids.
Except for statements like I just made, no one really gave a thought to how the others spent their leisure time.
Now the area has changed. That started in the mid 80's when they closed the poor high school and just divided that district up. (That was a scandal in itself due to football. )
All the neighborhoods have changed, most of the bars have closed and there are no more working girls or really cheap motels. It is no longer two distinct cities but one big area. The only constant is the oilfield.
I will say that yes we have time to think about culture and how everyone lives, but when one is just trying to survive there isn't much time to think about how the other half lives.
Now growing up until my parents divorced ( Thank God), I really wasn't sure what class we fell under. Dad had a blue collar job, but we were the first on our block to have a dishwasher, microwave, video games, etc. I also got enough of an allowance to buy my own stereo on my 13th birthday. ( $128. ) We went out of town quite often. Usually to visit relatives.
But I also wore nothing but hand-me-downs or homemade clothes.
After the divorce, dad started his own company and mom and us kids wound up moving to another town where I went to the minority school. So part of the year, I was daddy's little rich girl and most of the year, we were poor kids just trying to make a little money to help mom with the bills.
In both cases, I never worried about what anyone else was doing as I was just trying to survive.
So I don't think self-worth has a darn thing to do with what people outside your world are doing. I think it has more to do with what you make of your world.
Now yes, if you are the different one in your world, yes it will make a difference to your self worth. (Can you spot the one that was teased for her clothes, glasses and whatever else they could think of? )