How well do you think you know your neighbors? / LJWorld.com

Previous Next

Asked at Hy-Vee, 4000 W. Sixth St. on July 26, 2010

Browse the archives

“Casually well. We’re all very busy, working people, but they all seem very nice, and everyone gets along.”

— Kathleen Richards, artist, Lawrence

“Unfortunately, not very well … everybody just pulls in their garage and goes in the house.”

— Larry Henry, vice president of marketing/underwriting, Fort Scott

“Not well at all. They come and go so fast, I have no idea.”

— Jenna Passio, bank teller, Lawrence

“Not all that well.”

— Jim Minges, librarian, Roeland Park

Tumblr
Wordpress
Reddit
Copy and paste the link:

madhatter 3 years, 8 months ago

This comment was removed by the site staff for violation of the usage agreement.

Roland Gunslinger 3 years, 8 months ago

We know most of our neighbors quite well. We're good friends with the neighbors to our East and across the street. The house on our west is a rental house, but the wife is pretty outgoing and tends to introduce herself to whomever is living there at the time. The lady two houses down from us knew me when I was a kid and her family was friends with my parents.

So I'd say we know our neighbors fairly well... but can you really ever know someone?

MarcyDarcy 3 years, 8 months ago

Bad neighbors !? You guys have no clue.. I'm from Arizona.. Living among the "Latinos" has been one of the worst experiences of my life.

Thanks to the new strict Immigration Law illegals are leaving Arizona, but the damage what they have caused is massive. Broken state, ruined economy, many stolen vehicles, stolen identities, broken homes, drug problems. But they don't go home, they are moving to other states, to your state as well. Don't let them ruin your state like they did to Arizona.

Push your state rep to make a change. Google this: NUMBERSUSA.

Once you are registered, go to the "action buffet" to send FREE faxes now. They are all typed up and ready to go, you just need to click your mouse to send. Forward this to everyone you know.

RoeDapple 3 years, 8 months ago

If I were in the market for a house now I would find one I like then visit the neighbors BEFORE I put money down. A light chat with potential neighbors can reveal tons of clues about them to you. And you to them. Better than after sale enlightenment.

gphawk89 3 years, 8 months ago

Having spend nearly two decades living in apartments, I was pretty excited when we finally bought a house. We were going to have real "neighbors" like my parents did when I was growing up! We've lived there four years now. No neighborhood barbecues. No parties. Very little socializing. I've briefly chatted a few times with the next-door neighbor on one side of our house. The grumpy old guy to the other side has never said a word to us other than pounding on our door once and accusing my wife of calling a tree service after his tree fell on the power lines. The family across the street is just weird. What a letdown.

IndusRiver 3 years, 8 months ago

Too well. I know what they all are.

Ricky_Vaughn 3 years, 8 months ago

I used to have cool neighbors...we'll see about the new crop...I don't know them at all yet...

H_Lecter 3 years, 8 months ago

I love to have my neighbors over to grill.

I enjoy trying to pair them with the right beverage. Susie Shiraz Larry Lager I love my neighbors to death.

tange 3 years, 8 months ago

Neighbors? You guys have neighbors?

J Good Good 3 years, 8 months ago

I agree with another poster that East Lawrence is friendly and we know our neighbors. I have totally awesome neighbors who help each other out. But it is partly the way all of the houses have porches and sidewalks and people actually walk a lot.

You get to know folks when you see them all the time. The neighborhoods where the main part of the house you see are the garage are going to have a harder time.

pace 3 years, 8 months ago

I have great neighbors. Their kids are friendly and polite, their dog barks, just announcing, when people walk by. Only one neighbor asks to borrow my tools and I lend him only from the old set. I use to live in a cold neighborhood, now I see more pedestrians and kids.

somedude20 3 years, 8 months ago

I know that my neighbor Beth has a small mole over her left buttox.... Every breath you take and every move you make Every bond you break Every step you take, I'll be watching you

Deja Coffin 3 years, 8 months ago

I absolutely love my neighbors! I really feel lucky to have such great neighbors, while we were in the hospital having our son one of my neighbors took care of my dog and watered my garden for me while two other neighbors got together and mowed the lawn. I have another neighbor, about two houses away from me that is like a mother to me. She made a blanket and wall hanging for my son that we absolutely cherish. Which reminds me, I have some homemade pies I need to make to give them as a thank-you gift! Even the neighbors I don't know I can't complain about because they keep to themselves. All in all I not only love my neighbors but really love living in a small town and having so many people that are there for you when you need it most. I live in a great little community! I know I sound sappy as heck but it's true!

g_rock 3 years, 8 months ago

My parents grew up two doors down from each other....it wasn't the girl next door, but next door to that. So I guess they got to know each other fairly well....:)

Pywacket 3 years, 8 months ago

We all have a few acres and no sidewalk, so getting to know neighbors here is not as easy as it was where I grew up. Back there, mine was the 5th generation of family who had lived on that street. Everyone knew everyone--parents and grandparents, children and grandchildren. Moms watched out for the collective swarm of children, handing out cookies or discipline as needed. Here, we are on good footing with the neighbors we do know and socialize with some of them, but it's nothing like what I grew up with.

My best friend lived 3 houses away and we are going on 50 years of friendship. Her family heritage, the marriages, children, careers, triumphs, and tragedies of everyone in her family, are as well known to me as my own family stories and vice versa. My mother, similarly, is as well connected to the neighbors of her own generation and can tell the family history of each house--and still lives in the house I grew up in.

When I was a kid, we ran the neighborhood, in and out of gardens and garages, climbing trees, stopping at one another's houses for a drink of water or to take turns trooping into the bathroom.

Casseroles and pies were carried to the ill or bereaved, a card walked from door to door for signatures and donations, to be presented with the food offering. Everyone burned leaves at the base of the driveways on fall evenings. We happily accepted trick-or-treat popcorn balls, decorated cookies, and similar treats from old ladies who remembered my mother and her siblings from Halloweens 25 or 30 years earlier. In winter, young men, like my dad, shoveled the walks and drives of the elderly. On summer evenings, we kids played hide-and-seek, kick-the-can, or other games well into dusk while couples or people with their dogs strolled the sidewalk, stopping to chat with others who were sitting out on their porches or front steps. Walkers might stop and sit, maybe accepting a beer or a lemonade, before moving on. Are there any neighborhoods like that in America any more?

I regret that my kids did not have the neighborhood experience I had. I'm sure they don't care and don't feel any sense of loss--all they know is what they DID have--but I couldn't have provided the same sort of dreamy microcosm even if I had actively tried to replicate it. As much was luck as anything.

There WERE sinister people back then--I'm not suggesting that all neighborhoods were so benign--we could have met with various disasters or twisted neighbors and a lot of kids did back then. We were very fortunate. While I miss the good things about those times, I am content with the friendliness of neighbors we know here. Between my beginnings and now, I have lived in much worse neighborhoods, with a good share of noisy, hostile, or even nutso neighbors, so this isn't bad.

Flap Doodle 3 years, 8 months ago

I'm surrounded by lemur-phobes.

jonas_opines 3 years, 8 months ago

I found the word "refudiate" in one of the chapters of The Watchmen.

I_Bejewel 3 years, 8 months ago

I know a few of their names, smile or wave when they pass by. We've only lived here for a year, so I hope we'll get to know some of them better over time. They all seem quite nice.

Kontum1972 3 years, 8 months ago

obtw..i use to live in roeland park.....i can understand... Jim the librarian..! thats why i moved....

Kontum1972 3 years, 8 months ago

oh yeah....back to the subject matter.....i know all my neighbors down my block...for the past 18 years....they are all great..couldnt ask for better people...

Kontum1972 3 years, 8 months ago

"refudiate" ... that icon reminds me of my ledy friend..who lives out of town..VaVaVoom...

grammaddy 3 years, 8 months ago

Not well.One has his daughter on the weekends and the grandkids play with her, we hit each others' houses first on Halloween and share snacks for the kids.The couple on the other side are rarely outside. Not a bad neighborhood but I've lived in friendlier ones.

K_Verses_The_World 3 years, 8 months ago

Well, the moral of the story The moral of this song Is simply that one should never be Where one does not belong So when you see your neighbor carrying something Help him with his load And don’t go mistaking Paradise For that home across the road

ruroy 3 years, 8 months ago

I think it is so sad that so many people do not know their neighbors. I moved from Lawrence 8 years ago and live in a small community in Jefferson County. I am very proud and happy to say that I know all of my neighbors and love several as if they were my own family. Most are retired and the knowledge they have shared with our family is priceless. We are all there for each other in a crisis and I wouldn't have it any other way.

refudiate 3 years, 8 months ago

I used to like my neighbors. Then that guy who claims to be an "author" moved in to stalk my daughter and the rest of my family. He had better not get on my side of the fence.

Irenaku 3 years, 8 months ago

I love my neighbors! I live in the "art ghetto" in East Lawrence, and my neighbors and I are always outside with our kids, socializing, playing with the dog, running the sprinkler for the kdis...it is awesome!

ms_canada 3 years, 8 months ago

We have never made it a policy to socialize with the neighbours. We have lived in our house for 46 years and have seen neighbours come and go. We all say hello and comment on the weather when passing and that is about it. That is, except for Rusty. Our crossword loving cat (see pic to the left) has a very good young friend across the back alley. Nico is about ten years old and he just loves to play with Rusty. Lady, a black lab, was also a good friend to Rusty until her master moved away. The three of them, boy, dog, cat, were a delight to watch as they gambolled in the kiddie park across the alley. So now it is just Rusty and Nico being neighbourly.

JackFrost 3 years, 8 months ago

I guess I shouldn't complain. I have a couch on my front lawn. I sit there all day drinking, listening to Winger really loud, and practicing my nunchucks.

CWGOKU 3 years, 8 months ago

Hey Andini! Where are you with your "Nobody likes their neighbors, nobody..."

JackFrost 3 years, 8 months ago

My neighbor is a damn wierdo. He covers all his windows in tinfoil and sometimes I hear him making noise like that moron in "Slingblade".

autie 3 years, 8 months ago

don't ask, don't tell.....I like that. I know where the key is to my neighbors house...we have big parties every time they go out of town. Pretty cool, it's like being on vacation.

edjayhawk 3 years, 8 months ago

I live in an apartment complex and have 2 really nice neighbors who I trust. One is ex-Marine and the other couple is just a nice young couple who are always friendly. I probably should make the effort to have a simple get-together. The other neighbors aren't really interested in expanding their friendship network.

CWGOKU 3 years, 8 months ago

We get along with our neighbors really well and have street parties a couple of times a year. They all enjoy trash night and watching me drag the beer bottles to the curb. Once the lady across the street asked if we had a party recently, and I said, no that is my usual weekend consumption. We have some retired neighbors too, which is great knowing that someone is home all day while we are at work or on vacation.

CWGOKU 3 years, 8 months ago

My neighbors and I have a "don't ask, don't tell" policy.

prospector 3 years, 8 months ago

Wondering, can you get a conceal carry if you have a restraining order against you?

autie 3 years, 8 months ago

So what's up with the 50 or so notifications I got over the weekend about when someone post a comment? Can I fix that? What/Why/How does that happen? Is that fall out from the new and improved version Marcia was talking about? I de checked those boxes at the bottom of that notification page...did that fix it?