I chose to concentrate on the area that Parsons Flowers was located in, since I also lived fairly close to it and was curious about who lived in my neighborhood. Although I realized that I already knew what the majority race in my neighborhood was and what level of wealth my neighborhood enjoyed, I wanted to delve in deeper and find out the tiny details of my neighborhood.
Concentrating on what Ji-hyun had said about the difference between Korean florists and American florists, I sought to compare the population densities of both races (Asian and White) near the business. In the area, 73.3% of the population was Asian alone, 16.3% was White alone, and 3.6% was two or more races. Statistically, the number of Asians living in that area was about five times as much as the number of Whites living in the same area. This made sense, because Ji-hyun had also said that most of her customers were Asian.
Curious about what the population had been like ten years ago, I looked up the population densities by race in 2007. Surprisingly, the population of Whites was 47.3% of the total population – almost half the population. In addition, Asians had composed 41.9% of the population – almost two-thirds of the number now. Although I have lived in this area for 14 years, it was surprising that I had not noticed this change. Now that I think back, I remember there being more White people in my apartment than now, but I never stopped to think about it and realize it.
It was insightful and enlightening to study the change in population by race over the years – even I, who have lived in this neighborhood for 14 years, had not noticed the changes that had happened slowly. This frightened me a little bit, as I realized that my neighborhood had changed so much but I had realized almost none of the changes. From now on, I hope to notice more details about my neighborhood and take note of the little changes that affect where I live and ultimately, my life.
