My Good Neighborhood May Not Look Like Your Good Neighborhood - Higher Education

My Good Neighborhood May Not Look Like Your Good Neighborhood - Higher Education: A good colleague, Vasti Torres, wrote a piece years ago entitled “Mi Casa Is Not Always Like Your House.” In this piece she encouraged folks to use a culturally sensitive lens in the context of higher education. Most importantly, she talked about Latino students from a Latina perspective.

I was reminded of her piece when a new faculty member asked me about housing, schooling and just living in this part of the country, and how I navigated finding a place as an African-American female.

I began with a response similar to that of Torres. “What I consider to be a great neighborhood and great schooling is certainly different from what many folks consider to be great neighborhood and schooling,” I said.

When I decided to move to Indianapolis, I asked folks from here about where I should live. Most folks offered similar advice: there were a handful of neighborhoods that were not only great, but they had great schools — and just plain old great neighborhoods.