Do you know this book by Daniel Pinkwater? It’s about a guy who lives on a block where all the houses are the same and inspired by a paint accident he ends up painting his house like his dreams. Some neighbors balk, some get on board, and in the end they agree “Our street is us and we are it. Our street is where we like to be, and it looks like all our dreams.”
This is Hobart Street in my neighborhood, Mt. Pleasant, Washington DC. As I was walking with a friend today, we were struck with the contrast between the similar style homes, and the uniqueness of the front yards–how each one has such a different personality and flavor, yet the block is cohesive and intimate.
Here are some front yard images:
These images highlight for me the relationship between the individual and the group. I am reminded of the value of uniqueness, distinction and idiosyncrasy, of how to be part of a group but not become homogenized. Elena Giacopini, pedagogista from Reggio Emilia says “Inclusion…[does] not mean standardization, not integration; inclusion requires and demands differences in dialogue–not that one adapts to the other but that there is mutual adaptation.”