Leisureville
 

This book made me laugh, taught me things I did not know and got me mad all at the same time. I enjoy a book that can do all of that. It was well researched, and entertaining but I object to the notion that we have moved into this community to escape some social obligation that Andrew feels we owe his children.

I looked carefully for suggestions from the author as to how we young retirees should behave. We have been pushed into early retirement to allow greedy corporations to employ younger workers at reduced wages and benefits. I got the feeling that his answer was vaguely that we should live above retail stores, in small apartments in urban areas, so we can baby-sit, chasing our children’s careers around the country living near, but not with them until we are ready for nursing homes, and hopefully early deaths so not to use too much of the limited resources that our gracious children benevolently bestow upon us. The only social activism I hear the author participating in is the selfish pursuit of playgrounds for his children.

I have taught social commitment to my children and am happy to pass the torch to them. I am more than willing to help and mentor, but it is their turn to take the wheel. We are not a society that values our elders, or learns from history. We tend to cast off and disregard our past and are therefore doomed to repeat mistakes. I feel that my choices have a better chance of not repeating the mistakes of the last generation, who held the reigns too long and mentored too little. That is not checking out.

I wish intergenerational planned communities existed like the Villages. Sun, safety, similar interests are the things that drew us to the villages, not the absence of children.

Authentic is a word that the author used to describe the community where he lives, but accidental would be more descriptive. Haphazard development is how our suburbs have erupted. The city people that could afford it, escaped to the suburbs, leaving only those that could not afford to move to struggle in poverty in our urban centers. They took their tax base and cheated the inner city schools out of diversity and funding, never looking back. Talk about social conditions that ruined our traditionally urban neighborhoods, look to the suburbs.

We Americans should realize that the only way to provide successful communities for the future is to plan them. There is no hope for success in the accidental way our communities now emerge. We have the ability to plan new communities but have only done it on a small experimental scale. It may take an intergenerational Village to secure the successful community of the future. There is the topic for your next book Andrew.

This was a beautiful post. Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts. I will read this book with new insights. Thank you again!

my new thing: Blogging
 

Thanks for the comment, It was a fun read and it got me trying something new, blogging. My daughter taught me the basics and I's writing about life here in the Villages.

Well good for you!! And :welcome: to the best Website on the planet! Glad you found your way here!!

civicventures.org
 

On the last page of Andrew Blechman's book Leisureville-- in the Acknowledgments section p. 244-- he does mention groups working for social re-engagement. He only mentions this one-- http://civicventures.org/.

Contrary to Mr. Blechman's apparent observation, I've lived in TV now for 2 1/2 months and I still haven't been invited to a single orgy. Is it me?

Is it me?
 

Yes, definitely!

Skip

OMG!!! :1rotfl::1rotfl: That was very cute....you may have been serious but I thought it very cute and funny....

PS....I don't think they really exist....so don't take it personally...:icon_wink:


For all of you who know they do exist or think you do or want to just bust my chops....I don't want to know....YUK :MOJE_whot:

Wow Cassie.....another thing we agree on....Macs and fidelity! After 28 years of marriage, I've always believed that when you have a pool you don't go to the beach.....:)
Hey...like the new pic!

Frank D......can't wait to be back in Florida on MONDAY..YIPPEE!!!

I am sure Batavia is a little :cold: about this time....can't say that I miss the area....you are not going to want to leave once you get here...no matter where you are in FL....weather is great!


Back to the thread...sort of...

Yes....I am apparenlty a prude about stuff like that....yuk....

I may not be in a conventional relationship in some folks minds....but it is love and it is monogomous forever.....

God Bless anyone who thinks otherwise....YUK YUK YUK
But to each their own...glad we agree faithful....

I finally read Leisureville. Didn't quite seem like the TV I know and love. Mr. Midnight? Hard to believe. Guess I'm not his type.

What a coincidence... I just ordered a used copy from Amazon yesterday. I still have a touch of ambivalence about bailing on my state of Pa. I guess that's why I ordered it.

No orgies
 

You mean I'm selling my house, giving the furniture to my daughter and plan to buy an overpriced house in the middle of Fl and There are no orgies. I'm suing the author.:cus:

Does everyone really think/believe that "Mr. Midnight" really exists as reported? I haven't read the book, but my first thought was that "Mr. Midnight" is just a braggart. All talk. No action.

Barnes & Noble Problem
 

Everyone know that the developer will not allow Barnes & Noble to sell LEISUREVILLE here in the Villages. I wonder why that is. ??? :rant-rave:

Skip

Barnes and Noble Problem
 

Skip,

I have seen Leisureville in Barnes and Noble on many of my visits. Did you ask at the information desk whether it was in stock, or if you coud order it?

Last I looked Leisureville is in the Current Affairs section
 

Leisureville is in the back stacks of the Lake Sumter B & N near the Video/Audio section in Current Affairs section the last I looked.

I doubt if the Morse family would have that much clout to ban Leisureville from a large chain of book stores.

I do not think they even have all that much influence on what movies get into the Villages theaters. That seems to be more up to the distributors and how the theater people who pick the movies think the Villages market will take to the movies.

There were a dozen or so copies of Leisureville at the Customer Services desk
 

I stopped by Barnes & Noble on my way home from seeing Blindness
at the Old Mill Playhouse and saw that they had a dozen or so copies of Leisureville at the Customer Service desk as well as two or three in the Current Affairs aisle.

I'm about half way through Leisureville. The author's description of the aesthetics of TV (in the beginning of the book) is such that, had I not been living here, I would have wanted to come to see the place. He paints a very positive and accurate picture of the beauty we enjoy everyday. His commentary on "social obligation" did not sit well with me, probably because that mentality is partly to blame for the sub-prime financial mess we're in. Why he gave so much attention to the sex and booze is unclear. I thought the book lost it's focus. I have about 1/2 of the book to go, I hope it improves.

Mickey,

Mr. Midnight is not a myth and he is a true gentlemen. He was my roommate in the 70's and our lives were very hectic and exciting back then. We were free spirits..... happy hours after work..... bar hopping on the weekends..... and vacationing in Puerto Rico. Where has the time gone?

PS: For those of you that do know him, ask him about Cheryl and two broken beds!

Ahhhh yes. The 70's! My favorite decade. ;) :coolsmiley:

Well, if you lived in Ravena in the 70's, perhaps I've already met Mr. Midnight. :shocked: I'm not too far from Ravena.

Well, I'll keep his and your secrets if you keep mine. :1rotfl:

dfn8tly

SORRY , BUT IT IS YOU , THE NEWS IS ALL OVER TOWN , SORRY BUT SOMEONE'S GOTTA TELL YOU .............CASSIE TOLD ME !!!



IN 1958 IN PLEASANTON CALIFORNIA THERE WAS A SIGN ON THE FRONT LAWN OF A LOCAL CHURCH...

FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO ARE TIRED OF SIN, COME
INTO THIS HOUSE .....

someone wrote underneath ... FOR THOSE WHO AREN'T ,
CALL PLAZA 54812

I STILL HAVE THE NUMBER FUMAR :a040:

OH YUK, YUK, YUK are we talking about this again...don't listen to a word he says....unless it is funny....then laugh but don't believe it....he is just very silly....oh Fumar....you are very cute....is there a Mrs. Fumar...I know a few single ladies....you could be quite a catch!!:icon_wink: