Coffman Landing…What a needed antidote to the daily upheaval we are washed in each morning. It makes you want to turn away, to grumble (or mourn) “I don’t even recognize America anymore…” and get mired in loss. One cannot turn away from the destruction—it must be witnessed, resisted, opposed— else the robber barons would truly run amok amongst us. But we need the balance of sanity, of the recognizable daily lives of rest of us glossed over folks who keep keeping on. So I applaud your project. Yet I am also reminded that the population of just greater Los Angeles county surpasses the population of 45 other states (only CA, TX, FL, NY and PA each have more than 12.7 million people) and that those in our urban areas are also the backbone of America, and in great measure are good people just trying to live their lives, raise their families, make their memories, create their familiar neighborhoods and keep on contributing to the country. (I may have the tenor and purpose of your stories all wrong not having seen any yet, but I certainly don’t want us to inadvertently become yet more divided …)
Janice, you’re right, and I’m glad you brought it up. Coffman’s Landing is a small Missouri town because that’s the world I know and can write honestly about. But I don’t believe people in small towns are any more American than people in Los Angeles. My hope is that if I tell the truth about one little town, people anywhere can hear some of their own lives in it. The last thing I want these stories to do is divide us any more than we already are.
I would never accuse you of doing that intentionally. We need to find someone who knows urban life as intimately as you know Missouri life, and can highlight the goodnesses, the neighborliness, the tough things all are up against and how they manage to ameliorate them or collectively work around them, highlight the joy of urban diversity, the connections across cultures, the sharing, the babas and the abuelitos and umamas, the food, the color, the vitality, the evolution of a place. Any ideas? (me, a am a child of the insulated boring suburbs ... sigh)
Can't wait for the stories! I love learning what goes on in different towns and cities. That's one of the reasons I do my leisure traveling in my state of MI. Different people, different cultures. But it's the small towns, the Mom and Pops town where, I think, true growth and understanding is. I've traveled to many different states for business, but it's at home, you really learn.
Coffman Landing…What a needed antidote to the daily upheaval we are washed in each morning. It makes you want to turn away, to grumble (or mourn) “I don’t even recognize America anymore…” and get mired in loss. One cannot turn away from the destruction—it must be witnessed, resisted, opposed— else the robber barons would truly run amok amongst us. But we need the balance of sanity, of the recognizable daily lives of rest of us glossed over folks who keep keeping on. So I applaud your project. Yet I am also reminded that the population of just greater Los Angeles county surpasses the population of 45 other states (only CA, TX, FL, NY and PA each have more than 12.7 million people) and that those in our urban areas are also the backbone of America, and in great measure are good people just trying to live their lives, raise their families, make their memories, create their familiar neighborhoods and keep on contributing to the country. (I may have the tenor and purpose of your stories all wrong not having seen any yet, but I certainly don’t want us to inadvertently become yet more divided …)
Janice, you’re right, and I’m glad you brought it up. Coffman’s Landing is a small Missouri town because that’s the world I know and can write honestly about. But I don’t believe people in small towns are any more American than people in Los Angeles. My hope is that if I tell the truth about one little town, people anywhere can hear some of their own lives in it. The last thing I want these stories to do is divide us any more than we already are.
I would never accuse you of doing that intentionally. We need to find someone who knows urban life as intimately as you know Missouri life, and can highlight the goodnesses, the neighborliness, the tough things all are up against and how they manage to ameliorate them or collectively work around them, highlight the joy of urban diversity, the connections across cultures, the sharing, the babas and the abuelitos and umamas, the food, the color, the vitality, the evolution of a place. Any ideas? (me, a am a child of the insulated boring suburbs ... sigh)
Can't wait for the stories! I love learning what goes on in different towns and cities. That's one of the reasons I do my leisure traveling in my state of MI. Different people, different cultures. But it's the small towns, the Mom and Pops town where, I think, true growth and understanding is. I've traveled to many different states for business, but it's at home, you really learn.