7: Home Sweet Home

One of my main communities is my home in small-town Bedford, New Hampshire. Because I have lived there since age three, a part of me will always consider it home. Using Haythornwaite’s social network analysis (SNA) allowed me to look at my community through a new lense. According to Haythornwaits, SNA is a way “to examine what is exchanged, communicated and shared by pairs of individuals in the community.” It is affected by who the members of the community talk to, support, and what kind of social events are attended. My town is a pretty tight-knit community and my family is very involved in events. There are usually church events, town hall events and other traditions and celebrations that include the whole town and allow for people to see each other frequently. There is lots of support within the different groups. The town is very democratic, but has recently been getting young republicans moving in with their families. We attend political speeches (especially now with all the presidential candidates coming to campaign in New Hampshire) and different dinner parties hosted by family friends. My community is very good about supporting, donating and giving both time and money to those in need. The churches come together during all the holidays and make baskets and shop for those less fortunate. The social network of my community consists of those living in my town, but also those living in Manchester, the nearest city to Bedford. Manchester and Bedford create a criss-crossing pattern which causes many people to be interconnected. The common ground theory of being similar and having similar interests is very apparent in Bedford, because people live there who are interested in community, good schools, and an active lifestyle. In my town, reciprocity is strong and people know that they can, for the most part, count on neighbors, friends, and community members to be helped when they need help and to help when someone else could use a hand. For the most part, Bedford is a face to face community with very little online (CMC) interactions. Obviously people email each other, but the main routes of communication are telephone and face to face. I think this is because face to face and phone interactions and the most efficient and easiest ways to make plans or have a conversation. I am sure as the younger crowd moves into town email and CMC in general will become more popular, but as for now, Bedford, New Hampshire is a very face to face oriented community.