Minimal artificial lighting means that the stars and the moon illuminate he walkway to my mailbox as much as porch lights beside each apartment.
This is the path I take every evening when I return from work, checking a mailbox that is almost always empty. So imagine my surprise when I thick envelope from the U.S. Department of Commerce arrived addressed to me.
In bold, black, block letters I was told my response to the American Communities Survey was required by law. This 28-page booklet provides more timely data about communities, municipalities, cities and even rural America more frequently than the decennial census. Apparently, my address — not specifically me, as they reassured a handful of times — was simply because I represent a crosssection of my community.
I don’t know who rented my apartment before July, but I can only presume that the government was more interested in knowing about them then a Floridian becoming a reluctant Texan.
There I was spending a cool, Sunday evening telling the government about myself, my residence, my education, my career — and the period this year where I didn’t have a job. This information, sans my name supposedly, will be used by the public and private sector to make decisions about developing my community, and what facilities and necessities an isolated man in South Texas might need in the coming months and years.
The number of average Americans who log onto www.census.gov for information about the percentage of people in their community who speak German as a second language is minimal. Then again, how many people pull up the American Communities Survey on their smartphone to find out just how few minorities live in New Hampshire and Vermont while attending a family wedding on a scenic summer afternoon?
If nothing else, I now know why so many people quizzically stare at me as I amble through town in my fire-engine red “Floridamobile.” Less than eight percent of the population here is black, and just 17. 6 percent of the populace has a college degree. Throw in the fact that I am 26, and you have a perfect concoction for piquing curiosity in a small community.
