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Life and Loss in Two American Towns Far From Home by Ron Powers

Life and Loss in Two American Towns Far From Home by Ron Powers. Lisa Weishaar 23 Sep 03. Purpose.

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Life and Loss in Two American Towns Far From Home by Ron Powers

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  1. Life and Loss in Two American TownsFar From Homeby Ron Powers Lisa Weishaar 23 Sep 03

  2. Purpose Provide class with a brief overview “…of America at its best and its worst; and of the choices we still have to make about the quality and conditions of our lives, choices we must make before they are made for us.”

  3. Agenda • About the Author • Rural/Urban Transformation • Cairo, Illinois • Kent, Connecticut • Conclusion • Questions

  4. About the Author (1 of 2) • Ron Powers: • A former on-air columnist for CBS Sunday Morning • Won Pulitzer Prize for criticism in 1973 • Lives in Middlebury, Vermont

  5. About the Author (2 of 2) “Ron Powers is a wise and brilliant commentator on American life. In Far from Home, his cautionary tale of two towns, he cuts to the quick of this nation in mesmerizing narrative that will become a classic of its kind.” ---Jay Parini

  6. Rural-Urban Transformation(1 of 9) • American innocence = the Town • Man, farm, town, city • Americans love their towns

  7. Rural-Urban Transformation(2 of 9) • “The urban trend, whether we like it or not, is undeniable” (Robert Moses, 1956) • Industry, technology, & world war diminished the importance of the American town

  8. Rural-Urban Transformation(3 of 9) • In 1932, it was reported that the automobile “had erased the boundaries which formally separated urban from rural territory…” • The paved highway initiated the classic American progression from farm to town to city

  9. Rural-Urban Transformation(4 of 9) “Many an American small town or village is no longer a community. Too often it is only a small city, the citizens largely going their individual ways. This progressive disappearance of the community in present-day life is one of the most disturbing phenomena of modern history. It constitutes an historical crisis.” --Arthur Morgan, Sociologist, 1942

  10. Rural-Urban Transformation(5 of 9) “There are two rural Americas, one is real and one is imagined.” --Darryl Hobbs, Prof of Rural Sociology • The imagined rural America is the stuff of national myth • The real one, is less pleasing

  11. Rural-Urban Transformation(6 of 9) • Rural environments appear to be in danger of inevitable extinction • Statistics: • 1880’s: • Ag/Manufacturing-86% • Urban/Info-Age-2% • 2000 (projected): • Ag/Manufacturing-24% • Urban/Info-Age-66%

  12. Rural-Urban Transformation(7 of 9) • Transformations accelerated in the 1980’s • Drop in farm prices shut down town after town across the Midwest • Lost 3% of population 1980-1986

  13. Rural-Urban Transformation(8 of 9) • Kansas was on the brink • 600 small towns, 532 had fewer than 2500 • After Civil War symbol of prosperity • Changed in the 80’s • Grain/oil prices/land values diminished • Young people left towns and farms for jobs in Wichita • Remaining population, 15% over age of 65

  14. Rural-Urban Transformation(9 of 9) • Kansas State University proposed a radical strategy of rescue called “triage” • Promote the use of public funds for towns between 2500-5000 • Towns under 2500 would survive the best they could or die • “Atrophy & Hyperprosperity” • Those who loved their towns, were the agents of their doom

  15. Cairo, Illinois (1 of 2) • General Background • Once a riverboat port • Race riots in the 60’s • Industry fled and town became destitute • Richard “Doc” Poston, an expert in community development is hired • Operation Enterprise • Quinstate Forum

  16. Cairo, Illinois (2 of 2) • Historical Significance • The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn • Grant’s army barracks at Ft Defiance

  17. Kent, Connecticut(1 of 3) • General Background • Condominium developers & exurban weekenders • Outside money found the town • Total disregard for its pastoral beauty and small-town traditions • Henry Kissinger and the destruction of the blueberry bushes

  18. Kent, Connecticut (2 of 3) • Town vs the “outsiders” • 1950s when wave of 1st “summer people” came to Kent • As years went on, more and more newcomers trickled into Kent • Gradual conversion from “weekenders” to permanent residents • Planning and Zoning began in 1960s

  19. Kent, Connecticut (3 of 3) • Real Estate dominated the town’s political life, defined it’s social classes • Kent School • Prep boarding institution • Selling several buildings, acreage: $12,000,000 • Propose 350 dwelling units • Kent Grange

  20. Conclusion • Doc Poston still searching for the savior of Cairo—not gambling, but commercial attraction based on heritage • Recession in New England states “As the towns and farm communities languished, American cities, where most of the rural population drifted, seemed locked into an irreversible, murderous slide towards chaos and barbarism.”

  21. Questions??

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