Day 23: A little civic pride
I’ve written before about owning your place, the place where you live, and how moving to Macon has helped me do just that. You could say that many of my recent posts have been about owning where I live in another sense.
This week, I’ve been brought back to those original thoughts of owning the place I call home.
This summer, we saw two different versions of national civic pride. One was a fearful, circle-the-wagons nationalism. It painted a picture of American exceptionalism that required denigration of all that was not American (or, worse, a particular version of it). Its pride was a puffed-up, haughty pride, the kind that seems to belie a profound insecurity and smack of overcompensation.
The other was a celebration of who we are individually and collectively. It painted a picture of American exceptionalism that called us to recognize and live out of our best instincts. Civic pride becomes an open, expansive, welcoming stance. It is not threatened by the civic pride of others. It does not require that others become less in order to make us more.
Even setting aside politics, the latter was clearly a more compelling vision. It hearkened to Reagan’s “Morning in America.” For all of the problems that continued to exist and even those that were fostered in the 1980s, that reaffirming version of national identity came at a much needed time. A healthy people simply cannot continually live in fear, malaise or constant feelings of inferiority (just ask any student of Russian history).
Sometimes I see those dichotomous perspectives at work in Macon. Like every town, Macon has its challenges. It has especially pronounced challenges around poverty, education and race. Outsiders who merely drive through on their way to Florida or Savannah miss its appeal. Locals who’ve lived through decades of decline lose site of the changes happening around them.
When we moved here, we’d go out of our way to bring friends down to see this hidden gem in the making (the gem was there; it just needed polishing). I started a program to bring musicians to town and let them see the city in a new light. They were uniformly amazed. At the Center for Collaborative Journalism, we’ve brought leading journalists from around the country to Macon. Even jaded journalists fall in love.
It’s easy to forget that perspective.
As students in the south start back to college, Macon’s College Hill Commission and Mercer University’s Office of Academic and Advising Services has produced a video for new students at Mercer University, Middle Georgia State University and Wesleyan College. It does an excellent job at capturing what I see, my Macon.
I’m particularly proud that it was produced by Jave Boyboy, a media studies student (who, incidentally, we sent to Tanzania this summer to document the work of one of our Mercer on Mission teams). I’m also proud that my employer is going out of its way to encourage its students to venture into the city and to own where they’ll live for four years.
That video is not just PR. It is that, but the best PR is also true. This was validated by another video released this month, from visiting filmmakers with a movie in last month’s Macon Film Festival.
This makes me proud to be on the board of the Macon Film Festival. My fellow volunteer board members work themselves to the bone for most of the year to throw this event. These are the moments that make it all worthwhile.
For those outside of Macon, I hope you’ll visit. I’m happy to show you around. More importantly, I hope you can find what makes your city special and contribute to its health.
For Maconites, let’s continue to work on our problems. But let’s pause occasionally and appreciate the ways in which it’s morning in Macon.
