What is a small town anyways?
Welcome to all of you coming here from Mannionville, the blog of Lance Mannion, a man I know nothing about. But he knows something about my book "Small Town Bound" and I was pleased to see him use it in a sophisticated argument about the differences between small towns, big cities, and the commuter-hell hybrid of the two.
I hesitate to get drawn into another tiresome Blue State/Red State debate, as Lance seems to have. But I do want to confirm a point I think Lance is making: many of the joys of living in a small town ("small town" -- not "country" and not "suburb") resemble those of living in the city. You've got a neighborhood feel, a walkability, a surprising convenience. (Around here I'll go several days without getting in the car.) You just don't have as many cultural options. The tradeoff for that cultural deficiency is the slower pace, as well as (in some cases) better access to natural splendor.
If I didn't live in a town of under 5,000 people I'd live in a big city. I would not live in a suburb or in a small city (Waco? Fargo? Fort Wayne? Please no!) Yet oddly, these are places that many people in these debates think of as small towns.
But please, before I find myself any deeper in this debate, let me note that people differ. You may prefer city, suburb, small town, or country. (And, by the way, you may prefer Bush or Kerry, religion or no religion, Coke or Pepsi. As I noted below, complexity makes for better stories.) One of the things "Small Town Bound" tried to do was help people decide what they prefer.
Join the discussion at
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/johnclaytonoutreach/
I hesitate to get drawn into another tiresome Blue State/Red State debate, as Lance seems to have. But I do want to confirm a point I think Lance is making: many of the joys of living in a small town ("small town" -- not "country" and not "suburb") resemble those of living in the city. You've got a neighborhood feel, a walkability, a surprising convenience. (Around here I'll go several days without getting in the car.) You just don't have as many cultural options. The tradeoff for that cultural deficiency is the slower pace, as well as (in some cases) better access to natural splendor.
If I didn't live in a town of under 5,000 people I'd live in a big city. I would not live in a suburb or in a small city (Waco? Fargo? Fort Wayne? Please no!) Yet oddly, these are places that many people in these debates think of as small towns.
But please, before I find myself any deeper in this debate, let me note that people differ. You may prefer city, suburb, small town, or country. (And, by the way, you may prefer Bush or Kerry, religion or no religion, Coke or Pepsi. As I noted below, complexity makes for better stories.) One of the things "Small Town Bound" tried to do was help people decide what they prefer.
Join the discussion at
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/johnclaytonoutreach/
