People on Kyle Anderson

Suburbia and its culturally draining impact

Sun, 22 May 2011 15:41:39 -0700

As I was standing in line at the grocery store, a friend I was with started wondering aloud why people would care so much about the endless celebrity drama portrayed on tabloid covers. The gossip industry is a highly competitive and profitable one. Publishers are often willing to pay a photographer tens or even hundreds of thousands to get that one most-desired shot. After giving this some thought, I believe the popularity of tabloids, among many other cultural phenomena, are indirectly connected to the influx of suburban sprawl the United States has seen in recent decades.

Effects of physical community arrangement

Before suburbs became popular with Americans, the three main components of society - residential, commercial, and industrial sectors (thanks for engraining those in my head, SimCity) - were very close together. Sometimes, one could find all three sectors in the same building. But, as societies continued to grow, the urban areas became overcrowded and busy, and as a result, people developed a desire for a blend between rural countryside lifestyles while still maintaining easy access to cities.

The predecessor to today’s suburbs were very much literal cabins in the woods, according to architecture author and novelist James Kunstler in his TED talk in 2004. Once these lone homes became popular in the 1950s, vast tracts of them were constructed and created the types of suburbs many of us live in today. While the original idea of a suburb was to live away from the city, while still close enough to it to commute, commercial and industrial sectors began to move into the suburbs to accommodate the rising number of suburban-dwellers. Demand for commercial and especially industrial sectors in urban environments fell dramatically once significant portions of a city’s population moved away from the city’s center, and the three main societal sectors became segregated.

Suburbs have now furthered the need to commute between locations. Before suburbs, people were naturally brought together in public spaces. When a city’s population is able to live, work and play in close quarters, the need to commute is reduced and can even be eliminated. Suburb-dwellers, though, must travel anywhere from ten to thirty minutes to go anywhere significant beside their homes. A tremendous issue of isolation exists for people living in suburbs.

A vow to never be alone.

Sat, 12 Mar 2011 22:44:16 -0700

When I get home, my roommates are typically talking about such varied topics as ultimate fighting, computer programming, and escapades I can’t particularly disclose in public.

This is something I spent the first 18 years of my life without.

I’m about to graduate from Northern Arizona University. My parents and American society in general told me that I needed a degree to get a good job. That’s probably true, but what I’ve gained the most from this college experience is not an education. It’s social conditioning.

When Everything Falls Apart

Wed, 20 Oct 2010 12:09:58 -0700

There’s hardly anything like the emotion of a girl who just heard her father is dead.

Vance White’s eyes. Somewhat related. (One of the few photos I have access to since my computer is out of service.)

What should we hold dear? Some things? Everything? Nothing? Most people won’t live to see the age of 100. Material possessions come and go for a myriad of reasons. And the Earth? Check back in 5 billion years.

Thoughts on Perspective

Mon, 02 Aug 2010 22:22:46 -0700

‘You won’t last six months in this town.’ - Anonymous

If you’re sensible, you take an indirect hint from the broke fuckers who spend half their lives wasting away at the blackjack table, pounding back cigarette after drink after sorrow.

“It’s always like this,” The stranger across the table from me says after yet another losing hand.

I was in the same boat as him, walking away from the cards with 2/3 fewer chips than I started with. Thankfully, the $60 I used to bet with all came from video poker winnings from earlier. No matter what, I told myself, I’m leaving here $20 up.

Greed got the best of me that night. Though ending the night with a profit, it was much less than it could have been. After hitting two four of a kinds on video poker, I had turned my initial $40 into $150 for $110 profit. Half an hour and two more free beers, and that dropped to $60 profit, and I cashed out. It was 4 a.m., and this is when I tried to sleep and couldn’t. So I tried my luck at blackjack at 6 in the morning. On a Sunday. Though I lost winnings, I convinced the pit boss to comp me breakfast.

There are two ways to look at this situation I put myself in. Either I could have won more, got greedy and lost, or I simply won $20, free food and drinks, and a night out. All of this seems to relate back to a concept I recently read about called the anchoring effect.

Let's Make A Reality - TV Game Show Experience

Sun, 20 Dec 2009 18:24:32 -0700

In the rotting carcass that is the Tropicana Hotel and Casino’s convention center, a television studio was constructed, and in the last two and a half months, 98 episodes of TV’s newest game show have been taped in it.

The locale for CBS’s debut game show, “Let’s Make A Deal” with Wayne Brady, happens to be a 15 minute drive from my house. I invited my mother, who had been on the original “Let’s Make A Deal” in the ’70s, and my grandmother to a taping, one this writer, costumed in a size 18W purple dress and a necktie made of fake pearls, couldn’t take pictures of. Regardless, I figured it’d be a fun way to spend a Saturday afternoon while I’m home for winter break.

Lost Power Means More Fellowship

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 15:34:43 -0700

I was about to order some delicious Greek food at Taverna grill. Drinks were served, and someone was going to pay for my meal. It was going to be a good night.

The lights got suddenly brighter, flickered, and a bunch of lights I hadn’t even known existed turned on, leaving the once highly-decorated and classy dining room with an eerie glow. Temporary power outage, it seemed. Several minutes pass, and two others join our party. One of them says it’s crazy outside. Half of the town lost power, according to what he saw.

The Black and White

Thu, 10 Sep 2009 22:58:49 -0600

There are an alarming number of people who come to college and become completely disinterested with the amount of resources and information available to them. Going to every class is a chore rather than an experience. Instead of being excited, some choose to be bored. They feel like there is something better they could be doing. Well, I wish to assure them there isn’t.

Imagine life without having obligations to attend class and complete assignments. Most people would probably do what I tended to do over the summer when I had such a schedule: nothing. There was no compelling reason for me to do anything with my time. Despite vowing to not waste this summer, great though it was, I failed in that regard.