what makes a small town and small town? When is it no longer a small town? It seems that in recent years the term "small town values" has begun to show up in our lexicon more and more often, but what are true small town values? Is it a Hollywood thing? Is it something that is mythical, or is it something real?
I happily consider myself a small town guy. I grew up in a small town. The school where i received the brunt of my formal education had a total student population of 2600, give or take. I went to an even smaller school for one year where the total was closer to 1200 students, and now my nephews attend classes in a school that educates about 900 students. The student to Teacher ratio in these schools is such that students get help when they need it, and trouble can be caught and corrected early.
So first, to me, "small town values" are about education. Teachers still care, and the students are engaged and actually learning. I can't say that every student is a good student, but I have seen a correlation between class size and the success rate of the students. In the smaller schools it is much more likely that a higher percentage of pupils will stay in school, and reach graduation. Not only will they graduate, but a higher percentage will continue on to college. Now I know that you're thinking, "Well, Duh! Less students means that there is a better chance that there aren't as many laggards or unmotivated kids." What I mean is that the percentages are per capita. In urban schools the ratio is between 20-50 students out of 100 who go on to higher education after graduation. This is after the attrition rates of dropouts between Kindergarten and Graduation, which is somewhere in the 25 percent range, depending on the source you look at. The dropouts in small town schools are closed to 2-5 percent for the same period. More students stay in school, more reach graduation. But "more" is just a perception, because when 48 students graduate from a small town school and go on to college, the same year 1300 student could graduate from a city high school and 25% of them go on to college, that means that more kids from the city school go on to college. 52 vs 48. So this evens out a little bit. But the truth here is that a small town student is MUCH more likely to stay in school and go on to a higher education. ( What they do with it is immaterial at this point in the discussion!)
Second, a small town allows one to know their neighbors. This signals both safety and accountability, both excellent values. When you go to school in a class of 200 kids it is very likely that by the time you graduate you will know every one of your classmates. Whether you like them or not is a whole different discussion, but you know them all by name and face. Not only that, it is highly likely that you know many of their brothers and sisters, as well as who is related to whom. You know the family lines and most likely the family histories as well. If your family has many generations in a town, then you most likely have family in the class as well. ( I didn't, but many of my friends did) When you grow up in this environment, you know who does what and who is most likely to get into what kind of trouble. You know who the fighters are and who the vandals are, you know the bullies and the bullied. You know who is a hunter and who is a vegan. You know who has a grudge against whom. This means that when something happens in town, you generally have an idea of who is the culprit, or the target. It is unlikely that the guilty party will go unpunished for long. Try as you might there are very few real secrets in a small town. Somebody saw something and sooner or later it will get mentioned to someone who knows what was going on. Once 2 and 2 are put together, justice is swift and final. It's one reason why small towns are seen as "safe" because of the familiarity of the people with each other. This familiarity also breeds accountability. Do you think it is easy to hide your guilt from the nice lady down the street who used to babysit you when you were little, after you have driven through her flower-beds coming home drunk the other night?
I know that many people equate the small town with the religious right as well, but I don't really think this is always true. Yes, there is the element, but I think that it truly depends on the region. Some towns are like this, some are not. The town that I grew up in, is not one of these, even though some have tried to make it so in the past. In fact I know that my town is pretty evenly divided in this respect. It is not the religion that defines the overall morality of a town, it is the integrity of it's neighbors. Nobody needs a church doctrine to teach them to treat their neighbors with respect. Being humane is not necessarily a human trait, but education and civility get it ingrained better than the fear of some mythical omnipotent being. Look at how many people are taught the 10 commandments and yet they treat them like the 10 suggestions.
So when does a small town lose it's small town-ness? I postulate, that it comes when you no longer know your neighbors. When your kids go to a school with so many kids that they don't know them all by name, you can assume that you don't live in a small town. If you elect a mayor because he is fully qualified rather than because you went to school with him or his kids, you are likely to live in a big town, or Fates help you, a City! Yikes!
I like my small town just fine. My values are worth emulating. No reason to think being small town is a bad thing!
Showing posts with label redneck. Show all posts
Showing posts with label redneck. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Huh? What was that?
Ever talk to someone and wonder if they know how they sound? Do you hear your own accent? Does a Texan know he sounds like a Texan? You know the girls sound different from the guys, I don't know why, but they do. I have the opportunity to talk on the telephone to people from every corner of the country and it is funny how some have the quintessential regional accent, and then there are others who seem to have worked very hard to shed the accent, and yet it is still trickling out. Then there are the transplants who have their original accent but "tainted" by their new location.
A lot has been made about Madonna and her British accent, which she shouldn't have since she is from Detroit. What most people will never understand is that as a woman, a singer and a musician she was destined to pick up the British accent. It was completely unavoidable unless she refused to interact with the British people that she was living around. Why do I say this? Well, it has to do with my own experience, it seems to be a natural mechanism of women to adapt to their surroundings and part of that adaption is to absorb the local accent. I'm sure that there is an anthropological reason such as the need to find a mate or some such, and it makes sense. By blending in with the local population it makes the task of fitting in and finding a mate much easier. There are those accents that may never be lost such as the Bronx, or the real deep southern drawl. And sometimes a national accent such as German or Russian may be very hard to shake, but if the ear is good then it is very likely that the accent will be pretty near indiscernible after some practice. A great example of this is The model Heidi Klum, I was recently listening to her give an interview, and although she learned English later in her life, she has nearly no accent to her English. Most people would not be able to hear even the slightest lilt to her English, but to those of us with a good ear can still pick it out.
Musicians and Singers are great at picking up an accent and blending in to a new area. I always wondered why I had the ability to pick up an accent, and then while talking to some other friends of mine who happened to be musicians they made the point that having an ear for music makes it easier to hear lots of other things. Consider that half of the British singers sound American when they sing, it's because they were influenced by so many of the old blues masters who were American. From New Orleans, to Memphis to Chicago the Blues brought American music to the world and the influence gave so many singers an American accent, at least when they sang.
Since I have been studying languages I have found that if I can listen to a native speaker, I can blend right in with the rest of the natives, at least when I speak! I try very hard to learn as much as I can from Native speakers of what ever language I am studying, when I was learning Spanish I listened to Colombians, Puerto Ricans, and Mexicans, when I wanted to study French I listened to the French Exchange student in my school, when I study Russian I listen to the Ukrainians that I know, because that's the accent that I want when I speak Russian. I will worry about Ukrainian later.
One thing I have learned while studying languages is that the more you learn, the easier it gets, and the more you want to learn. I agree with the idea that if you are going to live in America you should be able to speak English. I don't think that one need to be fluent the second they set foot on the ground, but at least make the effort to learn and understand. My belief also is the reason that I study languages, because I also believe that if I wish to visit someplace in the world I should be able to speak that language. Maybe not fluently, but at least enough to be able to go grocery shopping and to get around the city without getting myself in a pickle. They say that Americans are often treated rudely in foreign countries, but I think it is not because they are American, but because most Americans don't make any effort to learn about where they are going. When Americans encounter foreigners who have no English skills, all too often they treat them with the same rudeness. It only takes a little effort to learn a few key phrases in a different language, and just the fact that you are trying makes all the difference. When I was in Ukraine, and looking for a store, I asked for directions, first in my terrible Russian, and then the person I was asking realized that I spoke English and they wanted to practice English! So we made a little team for a few hours, I would practice my Russian, and they would practice their English. It was a great exchange and later I found that as long as I tried the Russian first, I got smiles and all the help I could ever need when I needed it. Sometimes I would resort to sign language, but more times than not whomever I was talking to would know enough English to understand my Russian and I was happy to be understood.
Learn a language. It's fun and you may find out that you need to learn better English. It's amazing how many English words come from Other languages and how much we already know from our own mongrel mess of a language. I once read that a child is born with the capacity to understand and emulate as many as 500 different sounds, and as they develop their language skills they lose those that they have no use for. A child will learn what it hears. Let them listen to the Foreign TV stations , rather than plonking them in front of the cartoons that you understand. Expose them to as many languages as you can. it's good for them, and you may be surprised at how much and how fast they learn.
I wish I had that chance when I was a child.
A lot has been made about Madonna and her British accent, which she shouldn't have since she is from Detroit. What most people will never understand is that as a woman, a singer and a musician she was destined to pick up the British accent. It was completely unavoidable unless she refused to interact with the British people that she was living around. Why do I say this? Well, it has to do with my own experience, it seems to be a natural mechanism of women to adapt to their surroundings and part of that adaption is to absorb the local accent. I'm sure that there is an anthropological reason such as the need to find a mate or some such, and it makes sense. By blending in with the local population it makes the task of fitting in and finding a mate much easier. There are those accents that may never be lost such as the Bronx, or the real deep southern drawl. And sometimes a national accent such as German or Russian may be very hard to shake, but if the ear is good then it is very likely that the accent will be pretty near indiscernible after some practice. A great example of this is The model Heidi Klum, I was recently listening to her give an interview, and although she learned English later in her life, she has nearly no accent to her English. Most people would not be able to hear even the slightest lilt to her English, but to those of us with a good ear can still pick it out.
Musicians and Singers are great at picking up an accent and blending in to a new area. I always wondered why I had the ability to pick up an accent, and then while talking to some other friends of mine who happened to be musicians they made the point that having an ear for music makes it easier to hear lots of other things. Consider that half of the British singers sound American when they sing, it's because they were influenced by so many of the old blues masters who were American. From New Orleans, to Memphis to Chicago the Blues brought American music to the world and the influence gave so many singers an American accent, at least when they sang.
Since I have been studying languages I have found that if I can listen to a native speaker, I can blend right in with the rest of the natives, at least when I speak! I try very hard to learn as much as I can from Native speakers of what ever language I am studying, when I was learning Spanish I listened to Colombians, Puerto Ricans, and Mexicans, when I wanted to study French I listened to the French Exchange student in my school, when I study Russian I listen to the Ukrainians that I know, because that's the accent that I want when I speak Russian. I will worry about Ukrainian later.
One thing I have learned while studying languages is that the more you learn, the easier it gets, and the more you want to learn. I agree with the idea that if you are going to live in America you should be able to speak English. I don't think that one need to be fluent the second they set foot on the ground, but at least make the effort to learn and understand. My belief also is the reason that I study languages, because I also believe that if I wish to visit someplace in the world I should be able to speak that language. Maybe not fluently, but at least enough to be able to go grocery shopping and to get around the city without getting myself in a pickle. They say that Americans are often treated rudely in foreign countries, but I think it is not because they are American, but because most Americans don't make any effort to learn about where they are going. When Americans encounter foreigners who have no English skills, all too often they treat them with the same rudeness. It only takes a little effort to learn a few key phrases in a different language, and just the fact that you are trying makes all the difference. When I was in Ukraine, and looking for a store, I asked for directions, first in my terrible Russian, and then the person I was asking realized that I spoke English and they wanted to practice English! So we made a little team for a few hours, I would practice my Russian, and they would practice their English. It was a great exchange and later I found that as long as I tried the Russian first, I got smiles and all the help I could ever need when I needed it. Sometimes I would resort to sign language, but more times than not whomever I was talking to would know enough English to understand my Russian and I was happy to be understood.
Learn a language. It's fun and you may find out that you need to learn better English. It's amazing how many English words come from Other languages and how much we already know from our own mongrel mess of a language. I once read that a child is born with the capacity to understand and emulate as many as 500 different sounds, and as they develop their language skills they lose those that they have no use for. A child will learn what it hears. Let them listen to the Foreign TV stations , rather than plonking them in front of the cartoons that you understand. Expose them to as many languages as you can. it's good for them, and you may be surprised at how much and how fast they learn.
I wish I had that chance when I was a child.
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Redneck Toothfairy!
Today's post brought to you by the Tooth Fairy, "Gaily collecting teeth and scaring children for as long as I can get away with it!"
Yes Indeed, That's yours' truly dressed for a Halloween party as a redneck Tooth Fairy! I figure that I chose well, since I got lots of laughs and all the girls were pinching my ass!! LOL The sad part is that I didn't win the costume contest!! I came in 4th! Behind a store-bought costume, There is no justice! I figure the judges were bought off, or drunk. Since it was a bar, I guessing drunk, I mean who in this economy (besides a politician) can afford to bribe anyone?
So it was a fun night and everyone had a blast. The band was jammin' and the crowd was happy, and I just love Halloween when the girls release their inner exhibitionist! The number of naughty nurses and teachers were in their normal levels, but there was one that made my heart go pitter-pat, a naughty paramedic! she was hot! I'm gonna put the slide show up on You Tube so you can check it out soon. search Halloweenies ( or just click the link! )
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