Posted on 05/19/2016 2:33:14 PM PDT by Nachum
(CNSNews.com) – At a summit by the Aspen Institute’s Project Play, first lady Michelle Obama said Tuesday that some U.S. communities are “play deserts,” because they don’t have sufficient opportunities for kids to participate in sports and other outdoor activities, compared to wealthy communities.
“So many communities are becoming play deserts, but in wealthy communities, there is a wealth of resources. You can be in field hockey, or you can learn how to swim. There are aquatic centers and -- I’ve seen the difference. The disparities are amazing to me,” she said.
As CNSNews.com previously reported, the Obama administration coined the phrase “food deserts” to describe an urban area where a significant share of the population lives more than one mile from a grocery store.
Mrs. Obama took part in the 2016 Project Play Summit at the Newseum in Washington, D.C., alongside her brother, Craig Robinson, a college basketball analyst for ESPN. It was hosted by ESPN commentator Michael Wilbon of “Pardon the Interruption.” All three grew up on the South Side of Chicago.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnsnews.com ...
When was this? We lived there from 1970 to 1975. We went to the pool and the beach at the Navy base, and played with kids in our neighborhood, either in people's yards, the street, or undeveloped desert-scrub area.
There were no such things when I was a kid. We didn't have a car, and the only time we got to go swimming was when we visited my aunt for a weekend. I can probably count on one hand, the number of times I went swimming prior to going to highschool. We played ball in the street, and hockey too, without skates during the winter. We played cowboys and indians, jax, marbles, board games, jump rope, roller skated on the sidewalk, played hopscotch, and drew with chalk on the sidewalk. We also played other games, like hide and go seek, Simon Says, etc. We kept ourselves busy because we made our own fun.
My son was born there.
My kids are in their mid and late forties. Back when they were small, I took them to a neighborhood pool, and they both ended up with Impetigo. That was the last time they ever went.
We had a lot of freedom as young children, but the area was poor. One year they gave everyone free school lunches because the percentage who qualified was so high that they didn’t want to bother keeping track of who was supposed to pay.
Chula Jauna is what we called it.
I never heard that, but I was young.
Hey Mooch dude, most American cities are becoming job deserts because of your hubby.
As y’all planned.
I lived in Spring Valley for 10 years in the 80s
Maybe kids can’t play because the parks are full of junkies and gang bangers.
This is a bit of an aside but everyone in navy housing was poor.
And the hood was usually pretty rough.
One time my buddy was at sea and some chicano punks knew it so they would come round and cat call at her.
She grabbed a broom stick, chased them into a dry wash and beat the refried beans out of them LOL
I’ve lived in and near some of the communities she speaks of. They destroy the playgrounds, graffiti them up and shoot each other up constantly in and around them. I can’t blame people who wouldn’t want to send their kids there. Their own doing as usual.
I’m happy with my flip phone, too. Don’t know why since I use it maybe once every 6 months. I’m mature enough not to need 20 of my bffs (aka total strangers) to help me decide fries or tater tots at the drive thru.
Ring-A-Leeveo 1 2 3
Johnny-on-A-Pony
They just can’t quit being “community organizers”.
It’s the orbital scope of their intelligence.
Don't know how old old timers are but I'm close to sixty. We had a pool about six miles away. Cost a dime I think. Ocean was less than a mile ( free) and a store was the same as the pool. We walked or rode bikes or horses everywhere and all kids played in the street. If we wanted to get penny candy or a pack of baseball cards we collected bottles, and did odd jobs and ran our wagon around cutting lawns with a push mower. Played anything with a ball and a stick and or imagination and chalk and a rock. We were not rich by any standard. .
I don't remember a park. We had the land, the stables, the street, the hills, the orchards, the ocean. We lacked nothing.
Of course we were in
food desert, play desert, jobs desert.
Hmm....what do these places have in common?
They vote Democrat?
My parents bought a house, although it meant we were on austerity rations some of the time, especially when Dad was at sea. My version of austerity rations is Mexican (Dad had several posts in the Southwest), but Mom’s was more like ship food.
I still have some of my marbles too plus my steely, my jumbo smasher. Over the years and military moves, I’ve lost some of my “really good” ones.
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