Urban/Suburban/Rural

Brian at the Cincinnati blog posted about this idiot. I think if a paper that has endorsed every Republican presidential candidate except Lincoln says the bar owner is racist, it's hard to make an argument otherwise.

Is this an example of suburb or rural thinking? And does "suburb or rural thinking" even really exist anymore? The bar in question is a throw-back to when Mason was a good spot to buy a tractor or bulk volumes of squash. Mason in general is a suburb but Warren County is mixed at best.

Driving through Warren County, I pass mainly barns and corn fields. These are not representative symbols of a suburb. I've mentioned the anti-Catholic and white supremacist yard signs about a million times but they never stop amazing me. Is rural still applicable to any area in Ohio or is that reserved for REALLY rural parts of Kansas?

With relatives from Tennessee, Florida, and Texas, I can see that Warren County is West Paris compared to some of the mountain folk outside of Chattanooga. (And how do you class Point Barrow, Alaska? That's clearly beyond rural.)

On the other hand, can neighborhoods like Mt. Washington and Mt. Lookout be considered anything but suburbs? True, they're part of the city but they're less diverse than most of the municipalities bordering Cincinnati. I have several relatives in Mt. Washington but I wonder why anyone would live there. Nothing but ranch houses, barber shops, pizza places, cul-de-sacs AND a crappy school district.

I loved living in Clifton far more than any other place I've stayed but I'm not sure if it is truly "urban." Are we using words without meaning, and if so what would be a better classification?