Fire & Police Department Building
Park Road, Shively

As of 2003, Shively has been under a Metropolitan form of government, in which this entire (Jefferson) County has been incorporated as 'Louisville.' This metropolitan government then pays for the extant local police and fire departments, as well as providing support services in this regard from Metro Louisville.

I have no direct idea as to how residents feel about this relationship with Louisville. I do see the Shively police-cars and firewagons on the road, and it would appear that these public mandates are being accomplished.

In a real way, I would regret any Louisville annulment of these local services; I know not whether such an abolition has ever been contemplated.

--Vernon Lynn Stephens

'Typical' Apartment Complex in Shively--
Manslick Road @ Elderwood Drive

'Across the railroad tracks' from subdivision Shively one can find apartments-to-let, with rentals that can meet with the budgets-- say-- of those who are disabled (SSI or SSDI recipients) or the working-poor and betimes immigrants who are 'starting out' in the USA.

This makes for a culture of more-transience than would be the case in the home-owned neighborhoods here. I picture the folks who live over here as being honest, struggling, trying-to-do-what-is-best. Surprisingly there does not seem to be much overt crime, although the police do have to make an occasional showing around here.

I for one have a good landlord, who willingly does the requisite maintenance and who is honest in his dealings with the residents. I find this impressive, and do speculate that the other proprietors of these local rental properties accommodate their residents in the same way.

The apartment complex shown in the photograph above advertises rent a ~ $250 per month; correspondingly I pay $340 for a place with good heat, and air conditioning providing seasonal and economic comforts. It looks as though there are some more-upscale apartments at nearby Partridge Pointe, just to the west of here, bounded on both sides by high wooden fences suggesting a potential-- but not actualized-- 'gated community.' Across Manslick from here is a big complex which I think is called The American, and in that facility seem to be numerous folks with physical handicaps requiring 'scooters'/motorized-wheelchairs.

Neighbors here tend to keep a respectable distance, with an obvious yen 'not to bother anybody.' In the leasing contract I have there is a 'no pets' clause, but this is apparently abrogated locally by dog ownership by residents, and there may be other pets as well. A culture of cats congregates in these apartments, although the management sometimes tries to Have-A-Heart trap excess kitties and port them to the nearby Animal Control Center.

I am happy though petless here: would not do anything to spoil the relationship with my esteemed landlord. In this 'cheapside,' the living can nonetheless be-good.

--Vernon Lynn Stephens

'Good Neighbors' at Walgreens
Dixie Highway & Crums Lane, Shively

I certainly esteem Walgreens Pharmacy to be a community asset: in its strategic location it operates to accommodate Shively not only with prescribed and OTC (over-the-counter) drugs, but health-care-related products, cosmetics, medical equipage, books/mags and even groceries. It is one place where one can get provisions on Thanksgiving and even Christmas.

When Krogers-- the local supermarket-- closes, there is always Walgreens here to fill the slack in distribution. The pharmacists are also available on a 24X7 basis and I have gotten vital psychotropics and other meds refilled at the 'wee hours,' always with smiles.

This good company also has a fledgling health-clinic operation: one betimes can be screened for diabetes (one of my medical problems) hypertension/high-blood-pressure (another problem with me, more/less historical); there is even an effort at Walgreens to provide clients with needed vaccinations, saving the indigent the complication and expense of transiting to the Health Department far downtown.

I enjoy the service I get too @ Walgreens with my Medicare D services; here the advice is helpful, the prices 'right' and the service always courteous-- night or day I say.

Thank you Walgreens: certainly you make great Shively 'neighbors.'

--Vernon Lynn Stephens

Anne Braden, Local Civil Rights Leader
(Photo from University of Louisville Archive)

Presently, as I have reported here, Shively is a true melting-pot 'rainbow' community, with blacks constituting nearly half of the demographics here. This was not always the case however: housing discrimination once made Shively a 'locked out community' to African-Americans. The struggles of black folk to gain a foothold here required concerted effort, not-a-little marked by shameful treatment of those who would 'buck the trend' and make this village a mixed community.

'Lily-white' in the years after World War II, Shively made no secret of the coercion to which it would use to keep housing segregation. There were blacks and thoughtful white people in town at the same time who saw this unfairness, worked toward correction.

Thus in 1954 it came to be that labor-leader Carl Braden and his journalist wife Anne devised the idea of buying a house in Shively, then re-selling it to a Negro family (names unmentioned here for their protection.) The sale/re-sale was effected, with immediate consternation by the white neighbors. A 'fiery cross' (a token of KKK lore) was set in front of the house, gunshots were fired through its windows, and in few days the house-- which was new-- was dynamited.

The uproar here generated by 'outsiders trying to mix our neighborhood' was soon connected by rumor to the allegation that the Bradens were Communists, which in that ('Joe') McCarthy era was against federal law. The Bradens were charged with sedition, and Carl was sentenced to 15 years in prison.

Anne was left penniless, but still persisted in advocacy in social-justice causes, particularly those promoting racial equality. She in the last decade attended St. George's Episcopal Church, a mission to the inner-city on Virginia Ave. I met Anne at this church, and found her to be a lively oldster, with a keen mind, and a compulsion for social justice.

Anne died in 2006 to a mourning liberal community in Metro Louisville; I know nothing about the fate or demise of Carl. But clearly here was a figure who inaugurated social change that lives today in happily-integrated Shively.

--Vernon Lynn Stephens

Anti-'Crack'/Meth-Amphetamine Poster
Manslick Food Mart, 2010

The 'crack'/meth-amphetamine culture everywhere in the USA is covert, due likeliest because of the grave social sanctions that are imposed on these users. I know nothing about this culture, would eschew it at all costs, and 'ask no questions.' But reliable folks have told me that there is such a drug culture in Shively; the public health sign about this problem posted on our local food mart last year may perhaps may be taken as 'smoke' for the 'fire' of meth use hereabouts.

I wouldn't even know what to look for as 'archeological' evidence of this underground. I have heard something about pipes and tubes used with this group, but would not really know what these look like, and have not seen anything even suspicious of such ilk in this neighborhood.

By contrast alcohol culture shows itself as a legal practice with residues openly and all over Shively, particularly along the railroad track, and of course as throw-aways in dumpsters. Of this I 'know something' by the evidence, but again do not indulge.

There is a Seven Counties Services community mental health center in Shively, on Crums Lane; this agency has a mandate to treat drug/substance problems in addition to mental disorders. While I frequent this place as a mental consumer, I because of confidentiality know nothing about the portion of clients with a substance-abuse problem.

Clearly though from what I know, 'crack' and its chemical relative cocaine are among the most addictive substances known to humankind. I do hope that the poor souls who get trapped into a meth habit in this village are able to work out of what must be a terrible addiction.

--Vernon Lynn Stephens

Youngland-- Dixie Highway @ Youngland Ave., Shively

Depicted above is one of the largest residential buildings in Shively, the historic-site home of Bennett H. Young (vital dates 1843-1919), a Civil War 'hero' and one of the most prominent-- and most prosperous-- citizens in Shively/Louisville during the 19th and early 20th centuries.

Young was the perpetrator of the most-northern military action of the Civil War-- executed the Raid of St. Alban's Vermont on October 19, 1864. He had been a private with Captain John Hunt Morgan's 1863 foray into Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, which as a military endeavor was marked by what might be called pillage-guerrilla-warfare, which included some 'stealing' of horses. In Ohio Young was locked into the state prison in Columbus, but escaped to Canada.

In Canada, Young devised the idea that he could use that country as a base to raid the USA and procure needed cash for the Confederacy. He went to Bermuda and meeting Confederates got a commission of lieutenacy to accomplish the mission of raiding the Northern USA.

With 21 Confederates, Young checked into a St. Alban's hotel under the ruse of being travelers; on the next day, they went robbing 3 banks, losing much of the cash but netting $208,000 in the armed robbery; Young made the tellers of these banks swear allegiance to the Confederacy, and then made a completely unsuccessful effort to burn down St. Alban's starting with the mansion of the Vermont governor, who lived in the town.

Young was captured when he returned to Canada, but was released on recognition that he was a Confederate belligerent in the Civil War, in which fray Canada was neutral. As he was considered a criminal by the USA, he stayed in Canada until he was permitted to go back to Kentucky in 1868.

Young attained a law degree in Ireland, then in Scotland: he made settlement in Louisville, and became a highly successful attorney. He did much charitable work, including the founding of an orphanage for black children, establishment of the Louisville School for the Blind, and much pro bono legal work for the poor.

There is an historical marker in front of this mansion, a sign that here was a prominent person who needs remembrance. The heroes a community has by such display reveal much about the character of the place... Thus with some pride I make this written offering touting the accomplishments of Mr. Young.

In future entries, I shall try to present characterizations of other 'Shively heroes.'

--Vernon Lynn Stephens

--Vernon Lynn Stephens

Bicycles Racked @ Kroger's, Southland Terrace

Transportation and culture are closely inter-related; we need modes of transit in order to effect the exchange of goods and services of all types. In the USA and in Shively, 'automobile culture' predominates, but this is not universally so.

In the photograph above, I show a racking of bicycles in front of the major community nexus, Kroger's supermarket. One sees bikes and bicycling occasionally on the thoroughfares and by-ways, and I am led to make rather speculative remarks about the relation of 'bicycle culture' here in relation to the larger community.

To own a care requires money-- an expensive financial dealing generally requiring a connection to a crediting company, required automobile insurance, maintenance, and the price of the gasoline required to fuel engines (no minor consideration of late-- gasoline costing now ~$3.50+ per gallon.) There appears to be a substantial demographic of poorer folk in Shively, who use mass transit (Transit Authority of River City--TARC) and extensively pedestrianism.

The purchase of a bike would require some cash-outlay: I would guess that its cost would require some deferred gratification for a poor person, say a couple of months of restraint from a welfare check. Insurance would not be required, and that would be a '+' for economies; maintenance is betimes required on bikes, but this oft can be done by the owner himself/herself, and at any rate the cost of bicycle repair in a 'shop' does not rival what auto repairs would be. A bicycle moreover is 'pretty fast,' certainly a quicker way to get around than walking.

However, I see disadvantages: on the highway, I am told that cycling is DANGEROUS; there are not-- and really cannot be-- bike lanes added to the generally narrower streets of Shively. I do not know about the epidemiology of traffic accidents pertaining to bicycling in this community, but I do not anticipate that this would amount to a minor public problem.

Another limitation of getting around by bicycle would be the amount of 'baggage' on can effect on such transit. Here, the limitation would comprise how much one could stuff into 'saddlebags' and bike-baskets, and possibly a smaller pack one might takin per back while biking. Indeed, I when pedestrian have a duffel with pack-straps which could accommodate like 30-40 pounds of 'stuff'-- a total unlikelihood with bicycle transit.

In short, I see potential conflict of the bicyclists with the larger auto-centered culture of Shively; I do not know how cyclists themselves see this potential conflict, and I know of no way to poll car-drivers on this subject: but certainly in numerous ways the bicyclists is 'outgunned and outnumbered.'

--Vernon Lynn Stephens

Brown-Forman Distillery
2921 Dixie Highway, Shively

Shively abounds with architectural evidence of a once-thriving distillery industry; from Berry Boulevard to Seventh Street @ Central Ave., then across to Dixie Highway we see a campus of warehouses and brewing houses, mostly looking used for purposes other than making whiskey.

I read that Shively at one time sponsored 8 distilling companies, and that as a way to tap the revenue by taxation of these industries, Shively incorporated on May 23 1938-- in a period when the brewing industry re-ignited shortly after the abolition of Prohibition with the 21st Amendment-- and by this expediency saved the distilleries from higher taxes by incorporation into Louisville.

With tax revenue from distillers and from other industries, Shively prospered and returned excellent services to this community. Now we see alternate use of the distilling facilities, suggesting that somehow the liquor industry-- at least for (famous) Kentucky whiskey "...ain't what it used to be." This probably meant that by the time Metropolitan Louisville status was voted in for all of (this) Jefferson County in 2003, much of this substantial tax base had eroded for Shively. (This may have made the crossover to Metro Louisville 'a sweeter pill to swallow' here.)

I count only two liquor manufactories in Shively now: Mizkan, a cooking wine company located on the whiskey campus on 7th Street, and the older larger respected Brown-Forman Distillery @ 2921 Dixie Highway (see photograph above.) From the homepage of Brown-Forman, I learn that this company has diversified into the production of vodka, wine, champagne, and produces several brands of whiskey-- including local Early Times whiskey, and Jack Daniels whiskey from Tennessee. Notably, this company on this page proclaims it as corporate responsibility to promote 'responsible drinking.'

It is said that if one sells liquor there will be money coming in, hard-times and good-times withstanding. I do not know how much truth resides in this salty saying, but I can say that for Shively and for this region, the distillers have been good productive gainful members of this community.

--Vernon Lynn Stephens

Gravesite of John 'Christian' Shively,
Patriarch of this Village
(Location: Dixie Highway @ Garr's Lane,
South of Bearno's Pizza)

Chistian Shively (vital dates 1746-1826), a Revolutionary War vet from Pennsylvania, was the founder of this settlement which became Shively. He arrived here in 1780 from Harrodsburg with his (half-?) brother Jacob, obtaining a clear-title patent to a 1000 acre land just to the west of Mann's Lick, down to the area now contiguous with Rockford Lane.

I cannot detect that Mr. Shively had any direct connection with the salt works at Mann's Lick, but as having rare flat land in Kentucky, his farming and other enterprises would likelier impel him to riches in other ways. He started a grain mill on the site still known as Mill Creek. ("Mill Creek Elementary School" sits just north of the low place in Shively Park; this suggests to me that this land-depression Shively could have used for this mill-works, but maps show Mill Creek to the south, as I have indicated. I shall try in time to unravel this mill site uncertainty!) This enterprise was not entirely successful, for reasons geographically-apparent: water works require a strong gradient downward, so that the water can 'race'; Mill Creek is on a flat from its headwaters near Dixie Highway to the Ohio River. The mill was said to be active only during rainy season, iced-dysfunctional during the winter, and drought-dried during the summer.

Probably for some failure of this entrepreneurship, Shively in 1808 opened a tavern in his house near the present intersection of Dixie Highway and 7th Street (presently) in the community there built on land donated by this family, called Pond Settlement. (This nomenclature inclines me to think that there had been a swamp/pond/lake at the center of Shively in the earliest 19th century: for geography, I think such an empondment might have been-- sans the present drainage system infrastructure-- in the low hollow descending to the low place at Crums Lane and Park Drive southward through Garrs Lane and beyond.)

The Shivelys were German folk, and Germans-- mostly Catholic for the Shivelys Protestantism-- settled here initially, from a culture where folks are known to imbibe alcohol in a positively-sanctioned way. I think it likely that Christian did a good business, and principally by this means catering to the drinking truck-farmers locally, and to travelers became a wealthy man.

The cemetery in which Christian Shively is buried can be missed for its obscurity, submerged into the business district around St. Helen's Catholic. Note that now the cemetery-- which originally might only have been a larger Shively family burialplace-- now is next to a pizza place, and across the street from a liquor store and Big K Shell convenience/gasoline vendorship. There is no sign of vandalism however, and the signs of lapsed lawncare are only minimal.

Clearly it is a delight to make connections with the rooted history of this community in such an accidental-visitor's way. Hail to the Shivelys and to the community after which the Shivelys give their good German name!

--Vernon Lynn Stephens

UofL Booster's Front Plate--
Parking Lot, Southland Terrace

Folk art-- the popular expression of cultural reality-- is exactly an expression of what Johann Herder would call Volkgeist. In an effort to find such expression in Shively, with antipation I went to check bumper-stickers and other 'car-graffiti' in the Southland Terrace parking lot.

I did find good examples, but surprisingly enough, I found that most cars had no signs of popular interest, but were 'plain.' Perhaps this would be due to the fact that so marking a vehicle deteriorates the value of the car/van/truck, and perhaps this comes from a kind of social modesty, not wanting to bare in public one's popular/political/religious sentiments.

There was a 'Jesus is the Answer' sign as well as a number of stickers expressing Messianic expection in Jesus as Christ, and one front plate proclaiming 'Mo-de-Pimp'; one rear sticker on a pick-up-truck which said 'Proud to Be a Teamster.' Most of the folk art on vehicles however was for sports-- with support of the University of Kentucky as a minority representation, while-- as evidenced in the photo above-- there was stronger support of the University of Louisville.

Probably the impetus for UofL logoi essentially means support for basketball, a sport which magnetizes Shively and this region. Expression of support/playful-combativeness constitutes a 'safe' expression of competitiveness, here as well as elsewhere. One may express sanguinity for a sports team without deep offense to another, equally sanguine sportsman, whereas hard banter about politics or religion may well offend, even to the sympathetic for one's cause.

This folk art is itself therefore sport: Shively shows its playfully aggressive side on the 'car' in a personal embellishment to automobile-culture. I shall continue to look for this folksy artistic expression here...

--Vernon Lynn Stephens

A Glimpse of Park Row Drive--
A Subdivision in Shively

There are lots of apartment-complexes in Shively; there is also a larger community in subdivisions like the one shown above. I think I have been biased in my reportage to the culture I most-know here, the mostly-poorer folk who rent, not own, a 'place.'

Of course to own a house requires substantial income, a job, and some assurance of keeping a job in order to convince loaning financial institutions of the viability of mortgage. I am told that there is a foreclosure crisis in the USA... this type of financial mishap does not appear conspicuous in Shively, an inference I make from the paucity of 'for sale' signs in front of houses. Thus I am inclined to believe that these brave homeowners are eking-well in a tough economy.

Most of the subdivision houses resemble the kind of habitat affordable by working-class families, do not look 'upscale.' This suggests that incomes here tend to be substantial, but not high.

The picture thus presents itself of a community overall with the-poor, and the-working-gainfully, with a business community that caters to both types of sub-groups. This amounts to a febrile mix of humanity, in which I try to play my neighborly part.

--Vernon Lynn Stephens

Shively Park, Park Road @ Park Drive, Shively

Social philosopher Josef Pieper describes leisure as 'the basis of culture.' While not a topic for which there may be the most-extensive literature, the play/recreation important to the members of a community is an important cultural input, signalling the interests and attachments in which these members participate. These are social facts that reflect the is-ness of a town.

Shively has several parks; the city itself provides Shively Park, in an expanse of several acres north of the neighborhood 'city hall.' Other parks include the county-run Watterson Lake Park, about which I have written here previously, and there is a golf course on Crums Lane.

Shively Park is adjacent to a school, just to its north. This may be the reason I see children playing so much on the play-gym equipment adjacent to the intersection of Park Road & Park Drive. There are also tennis courts here, but perhaps for seasonal reasons, or perhaps for the budget-strapping so common to American communities, the courts do appear to be needing repair before they can be effectively used. There are two gazebos here-- one shown in the photo above-- and there is a jogging/walking asphalt trail (not for bicycles, evidently.) There is an outdoor basketball court, and I think I spy a brick-and-mortar community center at the west end of Shively Park.

It would appear then that Shively is interested in childplay, tennis, golf, basketball, and jogging/walking. I see that ipso facto the leaders of Shively have made thoughtful accommodation to these wants, and I do wonder whether the fiscal crisis which plagues government of late will permit expansion yea maintenance of these fledgling facilities.

I shall comment on other indications of 'leisure, the basis of culture' in Shively in entries to come.

--Vernon Lynn Stephens

1st Wok--
A Great Place to Eat--
A Touch of Chinese Culture in Shively

Chinese restaurants are among my favorite places to take in a meal, provided my limited pensioner's income will permit such an indulgence. I like the cuisine, but especially I like the way typical Chinese 'places' serve the customer... they tend to show real appreciation and gusto for being patronized, and are 'smiles' for the customer.

1st Wok is ONE of the Chinese restaurants in Shively: it is located on the south side of Southland Terrace. I choose it because it is close to me, is an especially nice place to get a quick meal and catch the social glow of Chinese culture. I like their sesame chicken. The prices for a good quick meal here are modest. I always leave 1st Wok with a full-and-happy feeling.

But I mentioned several Chinese places in Shively. There is a 'Happy Buddha' restaurant at the corner of Dixie Highway and Park Road...There used to be a Chinese buffet just up from them at the boundry of Shively Park...There is a Chinese fast-food down Dixie Highway, several 'thousand-blocks' south from here... And just a little further down the road closer to Pleasure Ridge Park is a Chinese buffet I really like (for the same reasons as 1st Wok) called Eastern House.

In a larger sense, I like the fact that in Shively this proud Asian culture is represented, in the 'Rainbow' mix of blacks, whites, Hispanics, Arabs, and occasionally Native Americans. It makes this lively Shively a melting pot, unlike what this Metropolis had been since the 19th century.

So with gratitude and pride for our melting-pot community, I hail this touch of Chinese culture here.

--Vernon Lynn Stephens

Louisville Animal Shelter,
Off Manslick Road, Shively

Human relatedness to animals is a domain that warrants special social-science, but perhaps per se has been ignored by sociology, except of course for the human science of anthropology/archeology, which studies not only agricultural practice, but also betimes the inclusion of pets in families.

Clearly though, whatever signs of such altruism and husbandry we see in our communities touchstones something quite social: we indeed are human for taking on other species and caring for them; we are especially human-- and humane-- by taking on animals NOT to eat them or their biological products but to have animals-for-their-own-sake.

The photo above is of the Louisville Animal Shelter; this kind place has a protracted evolution from being 'the local dog pound' where animals got collected more or less to control vicious animals and to prevent rabies-- legitimate health concerns. This in the past generally meant that animals were taken in and euthanized-- sometimes and originally none-too-painlessly. But of late there has been a profound thrust in this locality to try to find living accommodation for these 'lost' animals, by trying adoption strategies including referring 'good' animals to the near-by Humane Society. Some euthanasia has persisted, but of very late the new mayor of Metro-Louisville, Greg Fischer, has strongly come out for a no-kill policy at the Center.

I had occasion to take a cast-off kitty (from another apartment in this complex) to the Center; my landlord will not permit pets so I could not take on this sweetie. I was really apprehensive about the future of this beautiful kitten on arrival at the Center, but on that hot day the staff immediately to prevent kitty's overheating took her in, and suggested that with spaying (kitty was female) she would make a fine pet.

So for the-kitties and the-doggies things are looking up at the Louisville Animal Center. This kindness, this humanity, to our furred friends here gives me strong incentive that government in general, and this community's folks in particular, are producing an encouraging kinder-gentler-place-to-live.

--Vernon Lynn Stephens

Former Residence Converted to Business
Seventh Street 'Spur' Across from Southland Terrance

Photo shows a former home in Shively converted to an entrepreneurship; this is a common sight here. The evidence is compelling that not too long ago, such homes were the main type of building structure along the 'main stretches' of 7th Street and Dixie Highway and Crums Lane.

Nowadays, these main stretches are shopping centers, strip malls, service stations; the presence of converted domicile in this 'mix' suggests both the conversion of sites from home-use, I say, but also an economy in taking an existing structure and converting it to more-lucrative accommodation.

I read in Wikipedia that Shively in recent decades was one of the highest-growth communities in the nation. Signs abound of that this transtion was raw, uneven, and abortively caused dislocation of families to accommodate the burgeoning business presence along these main thoroughfares.

The rawness to which I refer is betokened to this moment in Shively, in ways illustrated here, and in numerous other indications. The social impact of this transition-- we are taught by social ecologists-- makes for a certain dynamic for unsettlement and of excitement: not all the transformation is pathological!

--Vernon Lynn Stephens

Knights of Columbus Hall, St. Helen's/Mary-Queen-of-Peace Church
To Be Sold at 'Absolute Auction' on March 16

A faith community is a social nexus; St. Helen's/Mary-Queen-of-Peace Church in the center of Shively functions as a lively church in the center of Shively, and as I am alienated from my own church (Episcopalianism) I frequently attend mass (as a spectator, not a communicant, which would be blasphemous manners) at St. Helen's and its sister/merged parish, St. Dennis on Cane Run Road.

In my detached observation, I am well aware that this community exhibits a real Christian faith-walk, and I am a booster of this parish-- will attend its happy social gatherings and delightful Lenten feastings (Fridays before Easter.) While I am not Catholic, I see this dual parish as being good-neighbors; they are generous in giving to the local Crusade for Children and other community fund drives, and in other ways show themselves to be relevant to social concerns.

Thus feeling an empathy for this church, I was startled to learn that its Knights of Columbus Hall will be sold at Absolute Auction-- with no regard for base price-- on March 16 at 12:30p. This is poignant; I wonder (again using Weberian Verstehen) whether the finances of St. Helen's are secure. In many Catholic venues, I hear by NPR that finances are challenged, due to lower attendance I suppose and the vexing demands that legal adversities (unmentioned here for good manners) would prrecipitate.

I shall not attend this auction: indeed I have no need as little guy for such 'big' real estate, and of course my pensioner's income would preclude a motivation for this acquistion. I do peak some caring for the passing of this obviously important community center. The Knights of Columbus and Legio Mariae previously took in Catholic men as a healthy alternative-- a very Catholic alternative-- to Masonic Orders-- which for reasons of alleged secrecy the Vatican disapproves.

For all this, my fond hope is that 'old' St. Helen's-- namesaked for the mother of Emperor Constantine and the finder of the true Cross by legend-- will 'bless' or village presence(I do not use the term BLESSING unadvisedly, as I may be termed a 21st Century Messianic Christian.)

--Vernon Lynn Stephens

Drainage Ditch-- Flash Flood Control--
Shively Park, Park Road, Shively

I write on Sunday night after a weekend of sometimes heavier rain, with 'flash flood warnings'; my purpose now is to describe how this natural fact couples with social fact in Shively.

Flash floods are serious business in Shively, almost all of its terrain being flat-- REALLY flat. This is a regional characteristic for the land south of the Falls of the Ohio-- which French explorer LaSalle in 1670 reported was-- south of the palisades of the Ohio-- a Great Swamp (French: 'un grand maurais'.)

Drainage has been both a social concern and an ongoing social problem here; in the swampy 19th century without drainage-planning/flood-control, yellow fever and other health problems subject to living in wetlands were common. Drainage control became both a health issue and a practical problem which cities in Jefferson County (here) applied the ditching of this area.

Shively shows ditch-work all-over; in this neighborhood specifically-- Manslick Road @ Crums Lane-- there is substantial presence of ditching, and rather frequent public work at maintaining/upgrading this infrastructure. Nevertheless, (flash-) flooding during weather such as we have had recently is a recurring problem; on August 4 2009 a freak stoppage of a heavy rainstorm dropped close to 6 inches of precip on this town, and flooding occurred savagely in the apartments adjacent to here, and the nearby Animal Control Shelter had great inundation which drowned many animals. When rather ordinary rain occurs here, great ponds develop, pedestrians have to take wide and convoluted detours around the puddling in order not to be mudded. Clearly, the wetlands from whence we have come in Shively would like to return, yea return to Great Swamp.

Community grows as a process affected and sometimes limited by land; there are always finite boundaries to what even unbridled spirit of human enterprise would like, and this shows right here, right now-- as an epiphenomenon of geological history affecting sociology.

100,000 or so years ago, this area was under an icy lake, there was no Ohio River going southwest, but a number of rivers like the Kentucky, Cumberland, Green, and Liking Rivers that went north to empty into this immense lake, caused by melting glaciers in a global warming (unlike the human-affected warming now) at the end of the-Ice-Age-before-last. This lake of 'rotting ice' was a tenuous blockage that broke, sending a deluge of water on the course of the present Ohio/Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico...and the Falls of the Ohio were formed ipso facto.

Then came the Swamp; we in Shively are latecomers to a geography whose time-series process has worked against the kind of dry-flat-land we here would like to have. Shively thus will have to deal with Acts-of-God that work against our habitat when "the floods have lifted up, have lifted up their voices" ( cf. Psalm 93:3.)

--Vernon Lynn Stephens

Shively 'Supports Our Troops'
(Exemplary Yardsign Showing Patriotism
On Park Row Drive, Shively)

Patriotism is a nationalistic expression of we-feeling/connectedness-to-community; in this USA there is a strong patriotism associated with pride in our nation's military. Shively REALLY demonstrates this tendency.

In the upscale subdivisions around Shively City Hall, one sees frequent display of the American Flag, proudly called 'Old Glory.' In addition to military-troop-support signs such as the one photographed above, Shively sponsors two veterans halls-- the American Legion Dixie Hall on Crums Lane, and the Veteran's of Foreign Wars Hall on Seventh Street. These are true community centers; the American Legion has fish-fries on Saturday, and both VFW and AL have hall rentals for community events.

This focus on military history (I say again) shows itself yea unto Shively City Hall, with its Wars Memorial (touted here in a blog entry last year) and a military tank; the interest in these public artifacts again bears out a strong linkage with the military interests.

Using interpretive (Weberian) sociology, I would anticipate that some of this liking of things-military can be associated with the geographic presence of Fort Knox, just down Dixie Highway 15-20 miles, and I have heard vets who lived in Shively say that the PX (personal exchange-- a store for GIs and Ex-GIs) can provide 'good deals' for folks who had been military-connected.

I have no direct stats on just what proportion of folks in Shively are so military-connected; all subjective indicators suggest that this presence-- and certainly promotion of things US-military shown-- is substantial.

I associate Flag-display, 'Support Our Troops' signs, and vets places with a politically nationalist trend; but this need not show itself in a community by more-frequently voting for the party which most expresses this patriotism-- which I would say is the Republican Party. There are lots of Democrats who have 'served,' love the military and Our Flag, and who say the Pledge of Allegiance at every signal social event. So I shall pass on what this suggests at the polls on election-days in Shively; I salute too our brave troops, Our Flag, and the vets, for I too have a strong and proud patriotic nationalistic we-feeling-- in a more-liberal-way consistent with being a social scientist.

--Vernon Lynn Stephens

The Demographics of Shively, KY--A Graphic from Website
http://www.city-data.com/city/Shively-Kentucky.html

The graphic above is one that I just happened to find on the Web; I hope it is OK with the site providers to put it in this blog.

By a social structuralist professor I had in college, I was told that the demographics of a community-- including the sort of data in this graph as well as the so-called 'age pyramid' can accurately predict the social behaviors the town displays. I think from this structuralist view we really have just a partial albeit telling set of indicators; the economics, religion, government, recreative patterns and lots of other variables to my anthropological imagination all function to make a community what it is.

But notice this graphic... We find here that the black/white population mix is close to 50:50, and this jibes with my surface impression. I was surprised to see the actual presence of 'immigrants' to be so low, but here my heuristic-of-availability has been for the apartment-complex neighborhood in which I live, where afoot and in stores one is likely to see phenotypic Hispanics (as if there really is such a biology!) and Asians. These folks are my close neighbors, and my proximity to them has biased my estimation of their population-size.

I would of course be interested in the 'age pie' to which I have alluded would be a desideratum; I think I can get stats on income distribution. It is clear, though, that the bias which made me misjudge the racial mix of Shively -- based literally on being 'on the other (poorer) side of the railroad tracks' of this community would affect my perception of these other factors as well.

Clearly there is a 'side of the railroad track' which demographically is higher-income and more middle class than my locale; in this regard I note-- and will report on-- the suburban subdivisions which characterize Shively say on Crums Lane west of Dixie Highway. Here it would not be inconsistent with our graphic to note that there seems to be sizeable population of black-homeowners over there, folks who have escaped through hard work and deferred gratification the hell and short-cheat of ghetto life, and have 'made it to this promised land' with a house, a car or so, and maybe a boat too.

These fine folk need more than 'honorable mention': I will work hard as I can to overcome my biases, my heuristics-of-availability, to give a completely balanced view of this honest village and its society.

Thanks again to the http://www.city-data.com/city/Shively-Kentucky.html Website.

--Vernon Lynn Stephens

'Exploded' Gasoline Prices
Displayed at Speeway Station, Dixie Highway & Park Road--
When Global Happenings Affect Local Shively Happenings!!!

The situation in Libya-- a revolt against a dictator Muammar Gaddafi brought on by social media in the hands of common folk-- as well as the general liberation movements in the Middle East excite the American imagination, as well as inspiring the social world down to my Eigenwelt (German: 'own world.') But we are connected, all of us in the world, and the connection between liberation in the Middle East and the pragmatics of life in Shively are manifest at the gas pump-- from just under $3 a gallon some few weeks ago, the price of a tanking of one's automobile here has skyrocketed-- I just got half a tank for something over twenty dollars-- a direct result of the fact that Libya produced a huge portion of the petroleum in the world distribution-- and the risk to porting crude due to the gunfire there has halted this distribution.

The spillover affects not just everything about automobiling in Shively; in Krogers there has been a peaking in groceries of very recent date-- a price increase of store-brand wheat bread from $.88 to $.99-- an increase of 112.5%-- doubtless due to the sharp increase in the price of delivering this food product by semis servicing this store.

The poor will per usual be the most directly affected by this spiking in costs, just as the poorest in Libya are the most vulnerable to the social turmoil-- just tip-of-the-'iceberg' betoken in the 'exodus of Biblical proportions' at the Libyan borders. It takes special effort at empathy to feel solidarity with the freedom fighters in the desert because of these particular dys-economies. I for one shall try when even marginally appropriate discuss the bravery reflected in this tailspin reflected here-- for the global liberation of the oppressive places of the world-- worthy of our perseverance and bracing-the-hardship required for this liberation.

This I say is an example of my seeing the-global in the-local of my new neighborhood. I shall keep on looking and elaborating upon such connection demanding empathy and sibling-hood with the rest of the world from Shively as my 'peep-hole.'

--Vernon Lynn Stephens

'Liquid-Crack'/Malt-Liquor Empty
Found Behind an Abandoned Store on Southland Terrace

Regard: the photo shows evidence of alcohol culture in my part of Shively. Refuse/rubbish/garbage is considered a good archeological artifact, and locally the garbage commonly points to the ingest of alcohol as the principal drug-of-use.

Malt liquor bottles are conspicuously evidenced here; this is a stronger libation that is said to constitute a viable alternative to 'crack' (meth-amphetamine), and according to NPR reports use of malt liquor is associated with violent crime incipience. I have no idea what role/function this form of alcoholic beverage so plays a role in the crime scene in Shively-- I am a conscientious probationer and try hard to 'stay absolutely clean' of anything that could breed legal trouble-- and besides I have an aversion to alcohol ingest at all events in my personal history.

There are several liquor stores in Shively, several in my immediate neigborhood, and several in the Shively stretches of Dixie Highway and Crums Lane. In this I know of four liquor stores in the Shively environs. These vend to the local public predominately... Convenience stores and the Krogers supermarket also sell booze. I take this as a clear indication that there is broad public tolerance in Shively of alcoholic ingest, and of course it is said that 10% of the populace given to drinking goes on to alcoholism.

I have heard that 'crack' and other drugs is current in Shively, particularly in the apartments. Like I am with alcohol, I stay absolutely avoidant of this kind of use-- and would shun their illegality even if I were not on probation. Thus, I cannot evidence (for instance with photography) this culture here. But thhe oral report is corroborated by occasional reportage in the local media-- about drug abuse in Shively as well as in Louisville generally.

Alcohol at least is legal-- I do shun its ingest but have on prior occasion 'taken a drink.' The stores which sell these products often carry 'drink responsibly' advertising, and in this free country exemplified in highly independent Shively I would certainly not play abolitionist-- or recommend from delight of this place try any other form of social engineering. In this I only intend to be an observer of this community, coupling engagingly the potentially negative as well as the whelming positivity of this fine neighborhood.

--Vernon Lynn Stephens

CSL Plasma Center, Crums Lane, Shively

I consider the nearby CSL Plasma Center to be a local point-of-interest; that its clientele is of a social stratum of keen interest to me and that this demographic is well represented in this part of Shively all tellingly convinces me that I should journalize about this entrepreneurship.

Selling plasma is an older way that cash-strapped folk can make money. Historically, the fee paid for such 'donation' was skimpy, but of late-- in the Age of AIDS and close scrutiny of hematological sampling-- the money for this service is nearly gainful.

CSL is not the first plasma place in this relatively huge brick facility; some twenty years ago, the place was called Plasma Alliance, and I donated there until it was discovered that I take psychotropic medicine, which according to the cant of phlebotomists affects the recipient of the plasma.

So now CSL does without my patronage, but I cannot help but notice that for this firm business is good-- the parking lot is daylong full of cars-- some of which I note come from Indiana and from further-away counties. Thus it cannot be that the population donating at CSL is exclusively of this Shively neighborhood. Nevertheless, the center is patently in a social environs where there is a larger mass of potential donors-- the folks with income challenge-- not just including unemployment-- but the general cohort of people who need substantial cash 'quick.'

Thus I thought this plasma center-- probably the largest of its kind in Metropolitan Louisville-- fits as a quintessential/paradigm business in Shively, patronizing a ready need for the large community of poor here, and the poorer folk of the entire region.

--Vernon Lynn Stephens

Muscular Dystrophy Association Tokens
At Southland Terrace (Shively) Krogers Supermarket

As a trained social scientist, I am keen to notice social facts-- (according to Emile Durkheim) indications of the autonomous function of community. Indications of corporate altruism are especial signs of social elan.

The local Krogers (supermarket) is a social center in this 'village': in times gone by I have noticed the posting of purchase tokens for charities posted on the front window of the/this store. In the same vein, I noticed yesterday that there were abundant token postings for the Muscular Dystrophy Association-- whose drive for funds focalizes about St. Patrick's Day (March 17.) The 'purchases'/donations are vended at the checkout by cashiers to customers, and these obviously get posted (most prominently) as a result.

In general, in times of economic downturn such as we have in the USA been in since 2008, charitable giving trends downward. That there should be such a strong showing of giving in Shively in such hard times as these I take as a strong indication of the sense of altruism manifest in this community.

Shively is a working community tending to be demographically low-income/poor. The pro-social-ness of such signs as these-- like the palpable patriotism that is shown here-- is remarkably conveying a kindly and giving socialization process.

--Vernon Lynn Stephens

Discarded Mattresses at the Dumpster
Of an Apartment Complex Close to Mine

I see these days plenty of throwaway mattresses and bedding at local apartments in this neighborhood. One need not be introspective or far-fetched to guess the probable reason for this trashing: bed-bugs.

I have occasionally here found bed-bugs in my stuff, particularly but infrequently as I lie by night to sleep. I do spray using Raid Hot-Shot from Home Depot-- a ten-dollar investment that serves me well-- and I am confident that my perceived paucity of these parasites is directly due to almost-daily spraying. I also frequently wash my bedding in hot water, and dry the same at the warmest setting.

My landlord says that bed-bugs are brought in by residents, and (perhaps conveniently) he will not be responsible for chemical entomological control. It thus falls to me (despite real doubts about the provenance of these bugs in these apartments) to exert what control I can. I think my success is perceptible, and I do not think I shall resort to pitching my bedding-- a dubious and expensive and draconian move at best.

My friendly neighbors also report problems with bed-bugs. One woman-- a wise and religious lady of color-- says that the ubiquitousness of the bed-bug now is simply God's 'plague' on sinful human-kind. She may have a point, but without recourse to any supernaturalism I think I shall continue to spray, wash-bedding and do all the preventions I can muster to maintain my presently low level of bed-bug-infestation!!!

--Vernon Lynn Stephens

The Passageway/'Shortcut' to Southland Terrace
From Manslick Road

The neigborhood-side of this part of Shively is blocked off by high wooden fencing; I would estimate the blockage to extend for half a mile, from Crums Lane north to the local White Castle restaurant. Thus it is crucial for pedestrian traffic aiming at going to Krogers, etc., to have a proper easy access to Southland Terrace.

Fortunately-- behold in the photo above-- such a passageway exits, just to the northside of here, with a gap in the cyclone fence to the Terrace, as well as a break in the wooden fence. The site of this pass is located by a building which had formerly been a laundromat; this building went unused for awhile, but lately has been taken by a child-care entrepreneurship; I talked with a representative of this new business who said there are no plans to block this easier access to the Plaza. Cheers!!!

CHEERS because this entire neighborhood-- which I have asserted here already depends on pedestrianism to 'get around'-- from Triangle Park and beyond to the local complex of apartment houses depends on this sole break in the very-secure blockages posed by the double fencing for the apartments as well as the cyclone fencing separating the Terrace from the railroad.

I have been warned that this break/passageway can present vulnerabilities for being waylayed/mugged; one is advised not to take this shortcut by nightfall. I notice that folk I meet at the pass here are reticent to speak to me-- a stranger as yet unproven, I would say. Nevertheless, I think all parties value the convenience of this nexus.

(..In this web-log I want to illustrate the micro points of interest of this neighborhood-- one might say this is a component of "acting locally, thinking globally." So I shall persist in describing these 'little things.')

--Vernon Lynn Stephens