[SeaGypsy]

Who else thinks 'street smarts' will be a crucial factor in determination of winners and losers on the Darwinian ride of dieoff?

I have stated in other threads that I believe there is a kind of 6th sense which some people have when it comes to hard social times.

Examples I can think of include soldiers of war, frontline journalists, emergency officers, scientists, surgeons & midwives, animal trainers, diplomatic experts as well as 'Urban Nomads', bush farmers, Aboriginal & other hunters.

I am not precluding other professions having sometimes miraculous timing or suggesting all or most members of these occupations do; simply that this is where examples of extraordinary insight are evident.



If this thread gets some interest I will post some of my experiences directly; I am interested if other posters have this 'feel' for 'reality' or have witnessed it in other people. I don't mind if people call 'it' God or the power of the 'Holy Goat Ranch'; I feel there is definitely 'something out there' which can be reached at times with seemingly miraculous results.

To those aware and interested in surviving die off, I consider 'Street Smarts' will be a prime concern; I would like to learn more about how others view this compartment of our capability as human beings.

[SeaGypsy]

I will tell one story.

I landed in San Fransisco 21st of March 1991. This was after spending a year planning to wait until things were calm; winning some money and jumping on a plane. I took off and the war was still going, I landed and it was declared over. Weird.

Anyhow while in San Fran for a few weeks I took to the Mission area.
I liked the street culture.
After a week inthe Mission I bought some old honky threads and took to walking about 4 miles up and down the Mission at all hours.

There are several miles where you don't see any white people in the Mission; but I never felt threatened. I knew from PNG what it's like to be a white in a place where you are all alone.

My Papuan friend, a senior Police Officer and ex Rascal told me:
" If you walk down My Street in Moresby, it will either be the friendliest nicest place you have ever been, or it will be Hell on Earth; all depending on who YOU are as a Person."
He told me many times: "You are safe in My Country, because you walk down the street as a Person not as a White Man; even though you are white."

I have learned much Street Culture from characters like him; I value the insights of real people who have seen hard times; more than I do investment advisors and equally to permaculture experts.

[ReverseEngineer]

Grow up in Hell's Kitchen in NYC like I did in my earliest years thru the age of 5 and then get transported to Rio de Janeiro to live next door to the Favelas until you are 10, you learn something about the value of "Street Smarts".

On the playgrounds when I was a boy, you just were TOAST if you didn't make friends. Anybody who has seen the photo of me and Pops knows I am not going to intimidate anyone with physical size. LOL. I don't like to fight physically for good reason, I learned to make friends with BIG BOYS for that reason. I never so much as had to throw a punch with my fists, because I can throw harder punches with the words. Of course, you gotta have FRIENDS to back you up in this paradigm.

When I got to Rio, I was still small for my age, and on top of that WHITE on beaches full of Black Boys who lived in poverty while I lived in a penthouse. I didn't even know the language, but I learned it quick enough and made my friends there also. Never got beat up there either.

In my experience, you are about always able to make friends in any environment, regardless of race or even economic circumstance. Your friends are your STRENGTH. Anybody who thinks they can go it alone in the world, who by virtue of being bigger and stronger is just a fool IMHO. its all about cooperation and compassion, understanding other people and communicating well with them. I made it through my growing up years with Street Smarts, and I expect it will serve me well in the spin down as well. Its all about your FRIENDS.

Reverse Engineer

[SeaGypsy]

The racism thread and imploding $ seem to be overwhelming distractions.
How do we make friends of strangers? Is this going to help? How do we sense our enemies? Will that help? Seems like people are not very focused on what they really need to know sometimes.

[Newfie]

Street,

I tend to agree with you. I'm a white guy, not particularly street smart. I've worked in Philly, some bad neighborhoods while working for transit, and NEVER had a problem. Others do, repeatedly. Keep a civil tongue, keep to your own business, stay casual. Twice in 25 years someone tried to "mug" my wife. One she looked at and said "You wanna die?" and he ran away. The other grabbed her purse, but she didn't let go. Good Germanic blood.

But to go beyond your point, I believe that the street gangs may represent our next level of city government if the existing power structures fail. I tend to see these "gangs" as not much different than how Europe was run in our recent past. Or Afghanistan now. Go listen to some classical opera. Brutal shit there. And a history lesson.

[Cog]

As a surveyor I've worked in my share of bad neighborhoods. I've never been hassled by anyone living there. We are decked out in florescent jackets and hats and I suspect the residents somehow think we are in some way connected with the city. We do keep our heads about us and are friendly with everyone we meet. We do restrict our work to only daylight hours in some of those neighborhoods.

I've had a lot more hassles in very rich neighborhoods and subdivisions doing boundary surveys and have been threatened with arrest and gun-play while searching for property corners.

[ReverseEngineer]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('SeaGypsy', 'T')he racism thread and imploding $ seem to be overwhelming distractions.
How do we make friends of strangers? Is this going to help? How do we sense our enemies? Will that help? Seems like people are not very focused on what they really need to know sometimes.

[Sixstrings]

Aren't streetsmarts, essentially, a healthy dose of paranoia? That is, a very *keen* awareness of your surroundings, and an ability to size all walks of life up in a split second (threat awareness).

A number of years ago, I had a little backpacking through Europe hobby. It's just what I did with my vacation time, I'd go when I found a good deal on a flgiht (last trip I took, years ago now, I flew to Paris and back on United for $265 with tax and all).

Anyway, I'd like to think I do have streetsmarts. I've sure learned a lot of lessons. For one, I've learned how to be on my toes in an unfamiliar environment. There's a big train station where everyone arrives and departs in Amsterdam, Centraal Station. Well, when you walk out there's a huge plaza of sorts.

It's packed with people, lots of bicycles too. It's also a transfer point for the electrified city trams, which use these rails embedded in the pavement that you may not exactly notice if you aren't paying attention.

Well, I saw trams in the distance, check. Then some shaggy Canadian starts a hard sell on me about staying at the hostel he works at. So while I'm sizing him up for trouble or whatever, I don't notice that these trams really come in at circular, crazy angles.

Sort of long story short, I didn't notice a massive tram / trolley /. whatever you call them cruising right up behind me. The Canadian's like "dude, the train," and I step away maybe two seconds in time to save my life. Maybe it wasn't a close call, maybe those trains can stop on a dime at a split second.

It sure shook me up though.. a good example of being a fish out of water. Here I was, small town American, I'd never seen a trolley in my life. I certainly had no concept that these things would just be cruising right through plazas packed with people.

Another lesson from my travels.. when somebody seems OK to me, they're either really OK or downright dangerous, not much middleground there. You GTF away at the first whiff of something not right. And always beware of your surroundings, always have your exit in mind.

Another street lesson.. sometimes it's safer to travel alone than with aquaintences. If you are in a group, it's better to be the leader. If the you're not the leader, and people are making bad decisions, be in a position that you can ditch the group at any moment. This is why I always traveled solo, by the way -- I don't trust the street smarts of people I know back home one iota.

On all my travels, I only had one attempted mugging (he didn't get my money, and I'm lucky I was sprayed with pepper spray and not stabbed or some such). This was in a group of aquaintences who had lingered too long in a dicey situation. So I know now.. when there's danger, you get the hell out and leave the others behind if they don't have enough sense to do likewise.

Other random street lessons.. I love Australians. Every Aussie I've met (and admittedly this is anecdotal) was adventurous, not complaining, had streetsmarts, and were an all-around good time.

[ReverseEngineer]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Sixstrings', '
')Another street lesson.. sometimes it's safer to travel alone than with aquaintences. If you are in a group, it's better to be the leader. If the you're not the leader, and people are making bad decisions, be in a position that you can ditch the group at any moment. This is why I always traveled solo, by the way -- I don't trust the street smarts of people I know back home one iota.

[Sixstrings]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'I') also did the Inter-railing thing around Europe back in my teens. I flew over there on Sir Freddie Laker's airline "bus" system, where you paid at the gate, no reservations. I was in "The Big Queue" along the Thames River living in a tent city for 2 days to fly back home, out of money for more than 2 weeks and living on my rail pass and sleeping in train stations. "Better Laker than Never" was the slogan on the T-shirts being sold around the Thames river at the time. LOL.

Anyhow, early on in the trip down in Venice, I had 3 real cute friends of convenience, 3 Swedish girls who shacked up with me in a gorgeous little B&B that overlooked a canal. I ran out of money about 2 weeks later, and they finally ditched me on a beach in Nice.

[Newfie]

Six,

I work in transit. A train in snow can be deadly quiet, even at 79mph. Every once in a while they wack a deer hunter on the Harrisburg line that way. Fog too.

[ReverseEngineer]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Sixstrings', '
')
You ever miss your traveling days, RE? I recognize I'm too old for it now, have too much holding me in place too. But I do miss the daily adventure.. I've never found it's match in settled life.

[threadbear]

Most of my friends think I'm deeply psychic. It's an ongoing source of amusement to them, that I foresee so many things that happen before they occur. I think it has a lot to do with being sensitive to subliminal clues in the environment. I also get a weird feeling that I'm surfing the collective unconscious, all the time, and find it easier than many others,to draw on this body of thought and feeling. Living in a quiet meditative place and not having to work a 9 to 5 job,encourages this ability. I would certainly trade some of this for carpentry skills, and better spatial perception, though.

It probably is an important survival skill. I've been able to maneuver around some incredibly difficult life circumstances with relative ease.

[Jotapay]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'S')treet Smarts: An Important Survival Skill?

[SeaGypsy]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('threadbear', 'M')ost of my friends think I'm deeply psychic. It's an ongoing source of amusement to them, that I foresee so many things that happen before they occur. I think it has a lot to do with being sensitive to subliminal clues in the environment. I also get a weird feeling that I'm surfing the collective unconscious, all the time, and find it easier than many others,to draw on this body of thought and feeling. Living in a quiet meditative place and not having to work a 9 to 5 job,encourages this ability. I would certainly trade some of this for carpentry skills, and better spatial perception, though.

It probably is an important survival skill. I've been able to maneuver around some incredibly difficult life circumstances with relative ease.