I live in Lake Wobegon

I live in Lake Wobegon. And the Lake Wobegons of our country are still relevant. My brilliant co-author Julie says of our town, "we're so far behind we're ahead."

If you listen to Garrison Keillor and the show is live, the weather he reports in Lake Wobegon for that day is exactly the weather in River Falls, Wisc. for that day.  But it goes beyond that, and the fact Keillor has a house outside of River Falls.  My favorite small town aspects of River Falls:
-Parking downtown is a penny.
-The hardware store owner knows my name.
-The movie theater, for first run movies, charges $3. Popcorn is 50 cents.
-Farm Tractors drive through town. (They are enormous)
-Everyone brings a potluck dish to the bar to share on Packer game days.
-The family run local radio station has funeral announcements every day, and its "sports from around the world" means every team within 20 miles.
-Farmers sell their produce on the honor system. Drop money in a box, take your food (see below).

And what I know is that some of the small town Lake Wobegon values are actually those of the 21st century. Small dense communities, people walking, safe neighborhoods at night, knowing your neighbor, volunteering, closer touch with farms and nature. What other values of small town America are 21st century? 

Comments

[D. P. Lubic]

"What other values of small town America are 21st century?"

Those aren't the values of the 21st century; they are the values of any century! The problem is, we let too many things slip. We got sloppy. It's not just in "values" (and I would argue that a "dense, walkable community" isn't a "value" as such), but in a lot of other things, particularly dress. Take a look at older movies from the 1940s, or better still, crowd photos from that era in the real world, and note that everybody dresses better. You don't see people in big, baggy clothes, or skimpy clothes, you don't see people looking as sloppy as so many do today.

The clothes themselves don't make someone organized or moral or smart or whatever (think of Albert Einstien, and his disheveled appearance), but they are a symptom of a lot of other things, a lack of caring among them--about your own appearance, about you, and about your community.

That as much as anything drives the pursuit of money by Wall Street and the big banks that has lead to so much grief in recent years.

Note that the saying from the Bible is "The LOVE (my emphasis) of money is the root of all evil," not "Money is the root of evil." There is a difference! Money is just a tool, like anything else. It shouldn't be an object of desire in itself! But how many people really understand that?

Maybe what we need isn't a return to "values," as much as a change of perspective.

[Jay Townley]

Just listen to Garrison Keillor everyday on NPR and you know he is not only relevant but essential to our migration to an informed and civil information society. Our communities of all sizes are as relevant as Mr. Keillor, who like Samuel Langhorne Clemens shows us how to use humor to understand ourselves and the world we live in. The people of this country are struggling right now with change and the growing realization that what we have seen and experienced in the past we are very likely to never see again...and Mr. Keillor is using his gift of humor to help us see the future as something to embrace and not fear. Some of our political class want to blame the agents of change and make us afraid of them. We need Mr. Keillor, and all like him, who use humor to help us embrace change instead of fearing it.

[William Draves]

Great comments Jay and D.P.

[airport weather]

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