I got to thinking about reviving neighborhood block parties about the time of last weeks In the Streets celebration, when thousands filled Market Street in Frederick and spilled onto Carroll Creek Linear Park. The really neat part was that people were out of their vehicles, walking around, and in some cases I actually witnessed this talking to each other. They were interacting.

Some of us live in splendid isolation in splendid developments where neighbors are a distant blur. We drive by ourselves down the road to work in a splendid little cubicle or even better, a corner office, with windows. We even take advantage of all those nifty time-saving self-checkout stations at the supermarket, the gas station and the bank where we dont have to deal with actual people.

Or we buy online to really save time, more driving or having to deal with even more people.

Maybe thats an ideal version of the American dream. Being independent, strong, standing tall. And alone. Not only the American dream, but increasingly, the American way of life.

Is it not possible. then, that by seeing less of each other, but interacting as little as possible with each other, that we eventually will understand each other even less, appreciate our differences even less? That could apply to close-by neighbors and to even a greater extent, distant neighborhoods and those neighbors we never see. We can just be comfortable in our own cocoons, our own worlds, neatly wrapped up and secured with automatic garage door closers.

Blame our modern society. Both parents work long hours because they have to, never have as much time with the kids as they would like, and socializing is a rare commodity. Blame our planners and builders that have traditionally created spaces more like a haphazard conglomeration of boxes centered on our vehicles with little regard for walking or that most

basic of human needs interaction with others. If they do consider opportunities for human interaction, its rare.

One successful effort that I know of is Liberty Village, a small co-housing community project in Libertytown.

According to its website, its where running into neighbors is intentional. There are others. I had the privilege of experiencing a genuinely neighborly neighborhood when I volunteered with the Meals on Wheels program a number of years ago.

One of my stops, on Thursdays, was at the home of Mrs. Edith Jackson, who lived on Madison Street in an older section of Frederick. Mrs. Jackson was nearing 100 years old at the time, loved to keep up with the news in the local newspaper, loved to sit at the kitchen table and chat, and loved Shirleys banana bread.

She might have been old, frail and lived alone, except when her grandson was home, but she was hardly alone. The first time I made a delivery, the lady in the house across the street rushed over to check on who I was and what I was doing there. She, and the rest of her neighbors, kept a close eye on things. The next-door neighbor, Perry, also did his part in making sure Mrs. Jackson was OK.

I went back for Mrs. Jacksons 100th birthday, in 2009, a year before she died, when the mayoral candidates were trying their best to take advantage of her popularity. Part of Madison Street was blocked off, and the neighbors turned out for an old-fashioned block party and birthday celebration. It was great to see. I was envious that our neighborhood never had a block party, but blocking off busy Bowers Road would be like trying to block off Interstate 270.

We re forever whining about our hectic, frenetic pace, being a reluctant part of what we call the rat race, or never having enough time for the things we really want to do. Never enough time for people. Maybe thats on us. Maybe a lot of that day-to-day pressure is self-inflicted. Do we really need to rush through life that way and die too soon?

Probably too much to ask to schedule more frequent In the Streets events. Maybe we could rotate them among outlying communities. Not very likely, but we could have more neighborhood block parties. If that wont work, how about something simpler, like visiting a friend, or even a neighbor? Itll be a start.

Slower by nature Bill Pritchard, who worked too fast in community journalism for 30 years, writes from Frederick. Reach him at billpritchard.1@gmail.com.

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Face to face, in the street and elsewhere - Frederick News Post