If the world had a front porch like we did back then
we'd still have our problems but we'd all be friends
Treating your neighbor like he's your next of kin
Wouldn't be gone like the wind
If the World had a front porch, like we did back then
-Lyrics byTracey Lawerence from the song If the World had a Front Porch

The simple lyrics of this country song don’t necessarily strike me as poetry; however, they offer a pleasing image of how porches affect our neighborhoods and sense of community.  This irritatingly catchy tune from my past wedged itself into my mind while discussing literature that explored the role of community in finding one’s “sense of place,” like Wendell Berry's essay “The Work of Local Culture.”  In this essay Berry addresses the institution of "sitting till bedtime," where neighbors would spend evenings at one another's homes telling stories, interacting, and developing a sense of community in ways that seem to be vanishing in modern American culture (Berry 158-159).  The realization that this “sitting till bedtime” is a rarity in modern society saddened me to a point of questioning what it is that has so drastically changed within our neighborhoods to hinder such simple and significant interactions.  As I casually observed the neighborhoods surrounding St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota, I noticed that the earlier neighborhoods have an abundance of porches affixed to the fronts of houses, while the houses in newer neighborhoods have fronts that are mostly adorned by large yawning garages.  As Tracey Lawerence’s song suggests, perhaps architecture plays an important role in the way in which we interact with our neighbors and how we in turn develop a sense of community.