So last night, as I attempted to do some homework, I found myself on the US census site. A professor was showing us all the fun things you can look up using it earlier this week, and out of some interest, but mostly boredom, I started to do searches on different towns.
I am from Bellerose, New York. The thing is, though, Bellerose doesn't really exist. I've known this for a while; maybe we live in a black hole? maybe there is some sort of twilight zone-esque explanation?
No. It once existed, but since has been eaten up by Jamaica, Queens along with Hollis and Queens Village. Bellerose Village still exists, as does Bellerose Terrace (neither of which are Queens, as evident through their astronomical taxes) but actual Bellerose, the part with the number streets and all the Indian restaurants, can't be found. I was determined to find statistics on Bellerose, though. I refused to accept Jamaica's statistics as my own. You do not "change in Bellerose," nor do you go to the "Bellerose Court House" when you get jury duty, nor do you have your "car radio stolen in Bellerose when I went for jury duty." Those are all Jamaica things.
So after doing an advanced search only using our zip code, the statistics for a nameless town appeared (literally, only the zip code graced the top of the page.) Some of the more interesting facts: 27.7% of our town has college degrees, which is higher than the national average, 38.6% of the town speaks a language other than English in their homes (a wee bit higher than the national average of 17.9%). The poverty level is half the national average, and the median family income is around $55,000. Bellerose doesn't sound half bad to me!
Figure 1: This is the suburb of Bellerose. Taken this summer during monsoon season. See? The houses aren't attached. That's my neighbor's mini-van in our spot. Bastard.
EDIT: Sorry, this was riddled with so many spelling/grammatical errors my head nearly exploded. I hope none of you read it before I edited it. It still isn't great
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