{"id":1599,"date":"2012-07-04T19:30:00","date_gmt":"2012-07-05T02:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/?p=1599"},"modified":"2012-09-27T11:49:19","modified_gmt":"2012-09-27T18:49:19","slug":"its-not-the-people-its-the-idea-the-idea-makes-the-people-great-as-great-as-they-want-to-be","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/1599\/its-not-the-people-its-the-idea-the-idea-makes-the-people-great-as-great-as-they-want-to-be\/","title":{"rendered":"“It’s not the people, it’s the idea. The idea makes the people great, as great as they want to be.”"},"content":{"rendered":"


Happy Independence Day. This is me, fiction from The Unfallen<\/a>:<\/em><\/p>\n

 
Bel Canto is about halfway between Central Square and Harvard Square. When they emerged into the cool of the night, they turned left, toward Harvard Square. They walked along in a contented silence, and she felt very close to him for no reason she could name. His hands were stuffed into the pockets of his coat and his left elbow was sticking out there, like an invitation. Without asking permission she stuck her hand inside the crook of his elbow and kept it there. He looked down at her hand and smiled, so she knew it was all right. She knew they would look like an old married couple to the students pushing past them, one of those Yuppie couples who inhabit the high-rises on Mass Avenue. There’s a first, she thought, to be tickled at being mistaken for married.<\/p>\n

Central Square is the shopping district for a number of blue collar neighborhoods. As you walk out of it toward Harvard Square, you see a little bit of everything — the Cambridge Post Office and city government buildings, free-standing houses, high-rise apartment towers, frat houses for both Harvard and M.I.T., cheesy little office buildings, restaurants, bars, fringe businesses — everything. But as you draw near to Harvard Square, Harvard asserts itself, and the eclecticism of the no-man’s-land between town and gown gives way to extremely absurd art galleries and extremely unappetizing restaurants and extremely fanatical radical bookstores and extremely incomprehensible retail stores devoted to every extremely incomprehensible pursuit or pastime known to the mind of man — or at least the Harvard man.<\/p>\n

But even that can’t last. The real estate in Harvard Square proper is extremely valuable. If you cannot pay the rent, the landlord will direct you to a more suitable location closer to Central Square. In Harvard Square itself, absurdity is found only out of doors.<\/p>\n

And it was out in full force tonight. At the Harvard Square station of the subway the plaza was rife with milling weirdness. Little teenage skateboarders with their strange haircuts and black street poets and homeless Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Happy Independence Day. This is me, fiction from The Unfallen:  Bel Canto is about halfway between Central Square and Harvard Square. When they emerged into the cool of the night, they turned left, toward Harvard Square. They walked along in a contented silence, and she felt very close to him for no reason she could […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,6,5],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1599","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"hentry","6":"category-casual-friday","7":"category-marketing","8":"category-real-estate","10":"no-featured-image"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":18055,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/18055\/overnight-news-if-there-is-a-housing-shortage-where-is-the-corresponding-surplus\/","url_meta":{"origin":1599,"position":0},"title":"Overnight News: If there is a housing shortage, where is the corresponding\u00a0surplus?","author":"Greg Swann","date":"April 16, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"If you haven't guessed, I am sick of being lied to about the further consequences of the riots. The real estate media is thrilled to tell us about hot markets in placid places, but only local media and the alt.press address the devastation in the rioted cities. Is there actual\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Group Therapy"","block_context":{"text":"Group Therapy","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/group-therapy\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Ya think it's easy?","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/BHBNewTopImage-300x225.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2903,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/2903\/looking-for-a-bargain-in-phoenix-real-estate-add-some-elbow-grease-to-your-money-and-go-for-a-bank-owned-home\/","url_meta":{"origin":1599,"position":1},"title":"Looking for a bargain in Phoenix real estate? Add some elbow grease to your money and go for a bank-owned home","author":"Greg Swann","date":"April 5, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"This is my column for this week from the Arizona Republic (permanent link): \u00a0Looking for a bargain in Phoenix real estate? Add some elbow grease to your money and go for a bank-owned home Last week we talked about how home sellers can command a premium price in the current\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Marketing"","block_context":{"text":"Marketing","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/marketing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":17642,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/17642\/overnight-news-how-many-guns-did-you-have-when-you-were-ten\/","url_meta":{"origin":1599,"position":2},"title":"Overnight News: How many guns did you have when you were\u00a0ten?","author":"Greg Swann","date":"December 27, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"I saw a bunch of images decrying America's gun culture, and it was amazing too me how much has changed in my own lifetime. I got a BB gun for my eighth birthday. For my tenth, I got a 22 rifle and a 20-gauge shotgun \u2013 full choke, a pheasant\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Group Therapy"","block_context":{"text":"Group Therapy","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/group-therapy\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Ya think it's easy?","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/BHBNewTopImage-300x225.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":445,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/445\/blogoff-post-68-many-factors-affect-homes-value\/","url_meta":{"origin":1599,"position":3},"title":"Blogoff Post #68: Many factors affect home’s value . . .","author":"Greg Swann","date":"September 26, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"This is from my Arizona Republic column:Buyers will try to compare homes on a price-per-square-foot basis, but this is useful only for highly comparable homes - similar square footage on similar lots in similar neighborhoods. Same subdivision is good. Same builder is better. Same exact floor plan is best. The\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Marketing"","block_context":{"text":"Marketing","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/marketing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":921,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/921\/are-appraisers-being-pimped-as-involuntary-seeing-eye-dogs-for-the-congenitally-blind-avms\/","url_meta":{"origin":1599,"position":4},"title":"Are appraisers being pimped as involuntary seeing-eye-dogs for the congenitally blind AVMs . . . ?","author":"Greg Swann","date":"January 21, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"From this morning's Boston Herald:Appraisers have resented AVMs for years, in part because the computer estimates have cut into appraisal companies\u2019 business. But the industry also challenges AVMs\u2019 accuracy - especially in today\u2019s market, where prices in some locales are falling rapidly. And now, some firms claim a key industry\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Disintermediation"","block_context":{"text":"Disintermediation","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/disintermediation\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":11684,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/11684\/sequim-real-estate-blogger-dumbs-down-america\/","url_meta":{"origin":1599,"position":5},"title":"Sequim Real Estate Blogger Dumbs Down America","author":"Chuck Marunde","date":"March 30, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"I am a serial blogger and an Internet aficionado, but I had to read a book in print (yes they still make them) to learn that I am a member of an evil clan of bloggers who are dumbing down America.\u00a0 In fact, according to this book, all who blog\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blogging"","block_context":{"text":"Blogging","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/blogging\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1599","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1599"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1599\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16206,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1599\/revisions\/16206"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1599"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1599"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1599"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}