A Neighborhood and I - Blog Response I

Hello,
My name is Shaun and I'm an Integrated Studies major here at Dixie. My two areas of focus are Business and Art. My passion is photography. I absolutely love the idea of being able to capture time and preserve a piece of history. There is something magical in the process of taking a photo and being able to freeze what you see. Even more so, which I have learned to love, is the disappearing art form of developing 35mm film and capturing time on a roll of film. What an unbelievable thing a camera is in that it can trap light and make an image. It's super cool to me.

To me neighborhood means many things. Growing up in a predominantly religious and rural neighborhood I experienced firsthand what Robert Sampson has defined as a community's well-being, collective efficacy. The neighborhood was small, and everyone new everyone else. Close and tight-knit communities. Our neighborhood was probably five blocks by five blocks. It was intersected largely on one side by a highway and on the other side farmland. The neighborhood was built upon trust and caring. I looked to my friends parents as a second set of my own. I believed they were good. There was a high standard of excellence and character set amongst the neighborhood. Together everyone was striving to better each other and as a whole, the community.

The individual neighborhood's in my perspective, are what make up the community. It's those smaller units of the collective puzzle that make the biggest impact. From the neighborhoods are where the foundational community building blocks are created. They start and almost ironically end there. I entirely agree with Sampson's research findings in these Chicago neighborhoods and think it's intriguing.

What a discovery to know that all we need to benefit a community and it's inhabitants is to model and unite the neighborhoods in collective efficacy. An interesting follow up article would be to see these finding put to the test with case studies to watch the collective efficacy at work! I am excited to be able to shed light on my creative mind and also my business-minded side to see how they will fit together in a study of community impact. I'm optimistic in this new academic venture!