The New Yorker...April 4, 1964

First and foremost, let me start by wishing everyone a happy and safe 4th of July. I'm off to the Ring the Bell ceremony at Bell Rec Center in a hour. There's a great piece of history on our liberty bell, but that's a story for another time. Then of course from 11 till 4 is the indoor picnic at the Bell bowling lanes...should be fun.

The other day a RCSC board member gave me a recent copy of The New Yorker. There was a story on techies and specifically a piece on apps he felt was applicable to our new marketing website. We will incorporate a Sun City app, but I plowed through the article trying to come to grips with why these techies felt they could save/change the world.

Suffice to say, that part is neither here nor there. What the article did do was to tweak me to stop by the museum and dig through the files. Sun City's first ten years brought a plethora of articles by virtually every major weekly or monthly magazine in the country. Often billed as "the great social experiment" the take on our little community ran the gamut.

The article I wanted was the longest written (covering thirty pages with ads). It was from the April 4, 1964 issue of The New Yorker. It was written by a young man by the name of Calvin Trillin. . As you can see from the Wikipedia link, Calvin was born in 1935 so at the time of the article, he was 29 or 30 years young.

The interesting aspect of the article is he spent 10 days living in the community. Relating to people so much older obviously was difficult for him. His views varied greatly and he wasn't always positive in his comments or about our future. Perhaps nothing quite summarizes his feelings more than this question he asked Tom Breen (one of Sun City's founders) at the end of the article: "Since the residents of Sun City didn't seem to want put up with anything else, either -----children, disagreement, responsibility, intellectual challenges-----I asked Breen if he had considered the possibility he created a community dedicated to self-indulgence on an unprecedented scale, a place in which the distinction in value among various kinds of activities had all but disappeared?"

Breen's response was lengthy and at this point, not germane to the discussion. I am more centered on Trillin's comments about the hedonistic lifestyle Sun City was in the beginning. I've long argued Sun City evolved from a place where we simply played our life away to a community we adopted, took ownership of and made our own. Obviously countless numbers of residents saw/felt the need to do more than laze by the swimming pool or chase a little white ball around.

I would love to invite Carl back to do a follow up story on Sun City. To let him see how we grew into something way better than what he saw in the beginning. It would be even better now for him to see it through the eyes of a senior and not those of a youngster. And who knows, if he's not interested, maybe I will write it and send it off to The New Yorker...how cool would that be?

 

I enjoy your use of words.
What a great idea to invite Carl to Sun City.
Keep us posted.
You said Calvin Trillin but later said Carl.
Which is it?

 

Dang...it's Calvin. Just in too big a hurry.

 

Click HERE to read all about Calvin Trillin.
I didn't see any place to contact him but will continue to look.

He is now 77 and lives in Kansas City, Missouri.

 

I could not find a personal email address for Calvin Trillon.
However, he can be contacted via his publisher.
Calvin Trillin
Author Mail
Hachette Book Group USA
Grand Central Publishing
237 Park Avenue
New York, NY 10017
USA

After all my hard work researching this, I expect you, BP, to get in touch with him and invite him to Sun City, Arizona.
One place I looked said he charged $10,000 for speaking. I think we should get him FREE to make up for what he said years ago!

 

Read this fellow through the years and always enjoyed his humorous angle which seems like it developed later in life. We could offer him a chance to redeem himself by coming for nominal fee, if any, and then contributing a hunk to the foundation....
He loves good food so you could lure him with that and the restaurants might let him dine gratis just to say he was there.

 

I'll take a whack at it after this holiday weekend. I see in Wikipedia he wrote a lot for The Nation. Maybe I can lure him here if I tell him i'm one of the 12 liberals in Sun City. If he likes good food, the one thing I know for sure is I want be inviting him to my house for any gourmet meals.

 

Since I did all the research on him, do I get to meet him?

Did you mean to say you "won't" be inviting him.....

How about a potluck someplace. No. not my house. On the other hand.....

 

No don't say it B, there are only 12 liberals there. You're frighting me. Oh well, I will be #13 then.

 

FYI--came across a New Yorker connection to Sun City that ran last year--to echo Sally Field, the author liked us, she really liked us!
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blo...old-age-in-sun-city-arizona.html#slide_ss_0=1

 

Hey scj; that would be Kendrick Brinson. She's an Atlanta photojournalist and has been to Sun City 4 or 5 times now. One of those trips she stayed with us. She originally came for Sun City's 50th anniversary celebration and every time she comes she gets tons of great shots. She started doing special features for magazines and newspapers on Sun City but her goal was to do a photo book. I don't know if it ever got off the ground but I have one of two prototypes she did.

Way cool.

 

Thanks for the background on Brinson. It would be good if she followed through with the book. Speaking of books, any idea of what the stats are for the sales of the McKeand book? Every time I go to Walgreens, seems they are well stocked with the other AZ books in the series, but the Sun City one always seems to sell out and be restocked.

 

Make that 14.....do I see a trend here? Good to know there are others out there, Sun City, and Arizona, can be a lonely place for a liberal.

 

Actually, it is evolving gang. Besides, I find we are able to be almost apolitical. This is one of those places where the phrase "all politics are local" is so spot on. The only deviation is politics in Sun City is truly about ownership of the process rather than the messiness of what we knew where we came from.

 

I've read a few articles that say AZ is close to moving to blue for 2016. But what do you mean B that you are able to be almost apolitical? Do you mean SC as a city or something else?

 

There are more liberals moving to AZ. I've told this story before but let me repeat: In my past life I was overly political. Testified before Congress in DC and a dozen times at the state capital in Minnesota. Did phone banking and door knocking and the other stuff to get "friends of labor" elected. I came to realize we were all just pawns, what we say, think or do really doesn't matter. There are folks behind the scenes pulling the strings, paying the bills and shaping the outcomes.

When I found Sun City, I came to understand politics played little or no role in the outcomes. Those of us living here were the ones who could make the difference. Right or left mattered not. Rich or poor (relatively speaking) made no difference. The only power brokers were the ones that got off their backsides and did something and even then that power wasn't bought and paid for. It was residents who felt there need be something done that could improve the community.

It truly is a remarkable concept. As I tried to explain it to the Chinese earlier this week, they struggled to get their arms and head around it. No surprise there; most of us came from settings unlike anything we have in Sun City. It's why we are unique and why all of us buying here have an obligation to take ownership in the process. Without that, Sun City changes in ways many of us won't like.

 

BPearson--add me to your count! I'm liberal minded and happy to have my legs and arms dangling outside of the box all the time.

 

Interesting thought gilmark and well put whether intended or not. It is almost trite to talk about thinking out of the box (the head and heart) but letting the arms and legs dangle outside might be far more appropriate given human nature. Let's face it, most people are far more centrist than they are radicals. When getting too far afield, we lose the masses and end up leading a charge of no one.

I learned that hard way the lesson. All too often in those early years I wanted to eat the apple all in one bite. It left people looking at me with fear and trepidation. It was only after coming to understand how and where people were that I was able to find ways to move the organization. Slowly was painful to me but comfortable for them and they were what mattered. It's about creating buy in and ownership.

It's why Sun City was so appealing to me. I know this drives my friends on the right and living in Sun City nuts, but we are for all intensive purposes a giant collective. The curiosity is we exist, in spite of wide political variances and differences, quite nicely. For 50 plus years we have ignored those differences and worked for the greater good. We've avoided radical actions and embraced a lifestyle where we all attempted to work in concert with one another.

How does it get any better than that?

 

You have an interesting experience and view, B. I hope I get a chance to meet you someday and understand it. I can't exactly know what you say because I don't live there there yet. But I certainly hope my generation doesn't let fall what has been started, as we move in. Sometimes I worry about that. My generation did much for making equal right known, I think that is our best legacy, but in other ways we have fallen short.

 

Do you think all Sun Cities were successful in the concept you describe?