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Friendly Midwestern PeoplePosted Friday, February 19, 2010, at 2:54 PM
I read an article about people who are moving to North Dakota from other parts of the country "out of desperation." They hear about the many jobs in the oil industry there, pack up, and receive an icy greeting with the news that most of those jobs are entry level and pay less than the jobs they just left. http://www.newsvine.com/_news/2010/02/15... The town of Hazleton, North Dakota, a metropolis roughly the size of my home, Fostoria, Iowa, placed an ad in 2005 offering families up to two free lots and $20,000.00 toward the purchase of a home. They offered businesses up to $50,000.00 and valuable free land to set up shop in the town without a traffic light. The town received hundreds of inquiries from all over the world, but in the end only one family, the Tristanis from Miami, committed to the move. "Not everyone fits in a small town," one of the town's leaders said. In the end, it was not the bitterly cold winters that chased the Tristanis out of town, but the cool reception they received from Hazleton residents. The town that reached out to new residents in an attempt to save itself froze out the one family willing to take the risk with small town insularity and drama. I've talked to recent transplants to Iowa and they all say they love the people. I think you're all lovable, too. But the new Iowans I spoke to had connections here already, or they are teachers, lawyers or other high profile professionals with a built in base of colleagues to welcome them. Even when I moved here with my family from just down the road in Sioux City nearly four years ago, I made inroads by requesting "friendships" on MySpace and emailing churches and civic organizations looking for a welcome fit. I grew up vacationing around West Lake Okoboji and running to Spencer for forgotten towels and toiletries, so this area was hardly unfamiliar to me. I didn't find insularity and cliquishness here, but with our Scandinavian-American heritage and Midwestern looks and "accent" my family fits in easily. Starting a local partner of a global nonprofit here (the Fuller Center for Housing -- Iowa Lakes) had the pleasant but unintended consequence of further raising our profile. Here in Fostoria, I get the distinct feeling that people know me whom I don't know, and people know more about us than I know that they know. Are we as welcoming to people who don't look like us, dress like us, act like us or believe like us? If we made an effort to attract more families to the area, would they turn tail back to the South to escape our ice, no matter how well they'd adapted to the weather? I have the sinking feeling that if the Tristanis had come to the Spencer/Okoboji area they'd have had a similar reception to what they experienced in North Dakota. How friendly are we, really? Comments Showing comments in chronological order [Show most recent comments first] |
Amy Hillgren Peterson has been married to Ed since 1992 and is the mother of three children: one at Spencer High School, one at Spencer Middle School, and one at Lincoln Elementary School. Her articles and essays have won several awards and have appeared in local and national publications. She is the author of a memoir and a novel, and is currently at work on a trilogy of stage plays. She blogs about faith, relationships, simple, sustainable living, mental health and creative writing.
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I agree with you 100%.
Unfortunately I agree as well. I think if we want to help our small towns grow, we need to open our minds. Not that we need to expect less from people who come here, but we need to give them the chance to fit in, to welcome them with open arms. I have yet to read the book, Hollowing Out the Middle, but I intend to after reading this article. I'd like to have everyone in small towns review this article from newsweek http://www.newsweek.com/id/220216 and think of things in a different way than we are used to. It's very eye-opening, you don't have to agree with it, but there are some very valid points we should probably take into consideration for the well-being of small town america.
Vanessa -- what an eye opening article! How interesting that they did their research right here in Iowa, too.
The part most relevant to Spencer, I think, was this:
(Q):Your book seems something of a rebuttal to those who have embraced the ideas of urban theorist Richard Florida, who argues that places thrive and prosper when filled with young, creative types and that communities should aim to lure or retain those sorts of people.
(A)[researcher]Kefalas: Florida is right; it's just that he's looking at one side of the coin, and we're looking at the other side of it. He's influenced folks all over the country to bring the creative class in and really develop a community. Unfortunately, the challenges for Iowa or western Pennsylvania or Michigan to make their creative class grow and bring their people in is maybe not the best solution for them.
Here in Spencer, we've been trying to build a creative class, and bringing the Curiel School here was a large part of that. The artistic and cultural opportunities were a big reason we moved here, as opposed to somewhere else in Iowa or somewhere else entirely (we were even thinking of "Mayberry"-- Mt. Airy, North Carolina).
I'm a playwright and while the Spencer Community Theatre has been wonderful in helping me develop my work, I don't feel I've had the opportunity to connect with other serious writers or artists, either in Spencer or in the Lakes area.
Just my $0.02, but I think Spencer and other small towns need to back up their claims of being a "creative" community or a "cool city", another element the article discussed.
Thanks for that link!
Not that I disagree with you lakewriter, but I believe the article is expressing that we don't need to force ourselves to become a "cool" city, there will always be cooler more creative cities that will lure away the younger crowd. We need to work on the basics, getting people back in - the 30-something family crowd, that's tried the city/suburb life and found it's not for them or their family. Then the coolness and creative people follow. We need to work on building an infastructure, starting in high school, to keep those kids who plan on working in industrial and healthcare fields to stay. To help provide training to them right here. I thought the tuition program he described in the article was a valid point and a great idea too. What better way to get new doctors and other healthcare practioners in (I think we have a few here creeping up on retirement age) and giving our high school students a chance to come back if they choose, AND have help paying their medical school tuition. We would get professionals back into the city and sort of complete the cycle in a way. I think there are a lot of ideas we look past when discusing what our city council and city management can do. We blame them for what they choose to do, but we as citizens never bring new ideas to them. If they don't hear or learn about new ideas, how do we expect them to make different decisions? It's on all our shoulders to help grow (and in some cases just sustain) our small towns. We all need to step up and do something and stop complaining. We don't always need to look at providing tax incentives to industrial businesses, we need to look in other places - like tuition assistance - to help grow our local talent. I'm sure there are other such ways to spend less money and lose less in our tax base - we just need to think about it and express our ideas with those that have the power to make decisions.
Having been born and raised in NW Iowa and now living in North Dakota, I can safely say I've recieved as warm of welcome as if I had popped over to a good friend's house for Sunday dinner. It's unfair to assume that all small towns are unfriendly, but's also naive to assume that all of them ARE friendly. I think it depends on the atmosphere that has developed in the town over time. I know of a few small towns in my area that are quite rude, but others that take a genuine interest in how you are and where you come from. If you go into a small town with a friendly demeanor it's more likely that people will feel comfortable in talking to you. I think if everyone tried a little harder to be friendly, the world would be a much better place.
To all who gets this post in time. We are meeting with Jonathan Narcisse (D/Independent) today at 4:30-5:30 in the Spencer Library. Jonathan is running against Chet Culver on the Democratic ticket. He will also be on KICD radio at 4:00 doing an interview. You are all invited to come and talk with him at the Library.
Bauerly, sorry I couldn't attend the meeting. I hadn't heard of Narcisse before and would have liked to hear what he had to say. I will check out his website.
lakewriter51340: Jonathan Narcisse will be here again next Tue March 9th. I don't have a time or location yet but will post it on our website. I will be talking to his campaign manager later today. We are vary interested in this candidate.
I posted a short video we recorded on http://www.patriotsteaparty.net site but our camera had some Audio problems so the audio is terrible. We'll have a better video after next Tuesdays meeting with him. You are all invited to attend this meeting.
The Spencer Tea Party Patriots are proud to announce the following event.
Jonathan Narcis is scheduled for Tue. March 9th from 6:30pm to 7:30pm at the Spencer Library. Hope you all can attend.