#small town life

[peninsulaisms]

some billabong at the top of the peninsula

[nomorewading]

i'm still waiting

[pratchettquotes]

There was a village tucked in a narrow valley between steep woods. It wasn't a large village, and wouldn't have shown up on a map of the mountains. It barely showed up on a map of the village.

It was, in fact, one of those places that exist merely so that people can have come from them. The universe is littered with them: hidden villages, windswept little towns under wide skies, isolated cabins on chilly mountains, whose only mark on history is to be the incredibly ordinary place where something extraordinary started to happen. Often there is no more than a little plaque to reveal that, against all gynecological probability, someone very famous was born halfway up a wall.

Terry Pratchett, Equal Rites

[chaoticdesertdweller]

Roanoke, Virginia

📸 Sasha Higgs

[mother-lee]

almost heaven

[nowheresville-dakota]

[deadcrowcalling]

i feel bad for people who didn't grow up in small rural towns. what do you mean you didn't grow up shouting "cows!" every time you passed a pasture. what do you mean you never ran around in a field playing with a hose. what do you mean you've never had to pick hay out of your pockets for weeks. what do you mean you didn't catch cicadas and chase your friends with them. what do you mean you've never had a farm dog playfully chase you. like what

[we-die-in-the-barn]

the quiet midnight.

[arspoeticamaia]

"Everybody lies. No exceptions."

[tiger-in-the-flightdeck]

I don't know if I have many teenagers following me, but if I do, I want to tell you a story.

Way back when I was in high school, more than half my age ago at this point, I did a politics class mostly because my other two classes were with the same teacher and if I took that one it meant I didn't have to leave the portable in the winter. Which gives you an idea of how seriously I took my education.

For extra credit, our teacher wanted us to attend a local city council candidate's meeting. And he wanted us to treat it like an old 1930s election campaign trail situation. Posters, candidate ribbons, noise makers, the works. Now, he was also bribing us with pizza for after and for a fair number of us that meant a free meal instead of having peanut butter on a spoon for dinner.

So four classes worth of twelfth graders rocked up at this thing armed with campaign slogans we'd made up for our chosen candidates, posters, one kid had a bunch of glow sticks. And we freaking roared whenever someone would step up to the podium to start their pitch.

And most of the politicians ate it up. These meetings usually got fifteen little old ladies looking for something to do on a Tuesday night. We outnumbered them. We were taking up the whole back half of the room. Most of us, that would be our first year eligible to vote, and I guess seeing us there lit a fire under them. It went from 'This year's holiday light display should be blue and white themed, all in favour?' to 'This town is pretty nice, but it could be better. Let's figure out how!' Instead of the meeting ending after the last speaker and everyone grabbing some sugar cookies and coffee, it turned into a question and answer period. They wanted to know what we wanted from them.

We discussed how our little town turning more and more into a bedroom community or commuter town meant that job opportunities were leaving. How that lack of prospects for us was contributing to the rate of drug use and suicide. The epidemic of teen pregnancies was costing so many young women their education because they were encouraged to drop out of school. And how we needed things to do that weren't just sitting in the mall food court.

Over the next few years, things started to happen. The community centres started doing career training programs. Everything from engine repair to nail technician. The adult learning centre had a class that was all young mothers getting their high school diplomas. They built a skate park. There were outdoor concerts and music events. The hockey rink and outdoor performance stage got fixed up. A pretty big company came along and brought tons of jobs with it and suddenly we had opportunities that weren't either a burger joint or shovelling icing in the cookie factory.

This is all a long, slightly rambling way to say that while voting is absolutely important, if you really want your voice heard, show up to meetings. Make some noise. Tell your elected officials what you need to thrive in your community. Especially if you're in a small town.

[peninsulaisms]

i’ve spent the better half of this spring crying for blackberries and muddy water.

[nomorewading]

driving across the ohio river to indiana

[pratchettquotes]

It was said to be a wonder of the world, except that very few people around here ever wondered much about anything and were barely aware of the world.

Terry Pratchett, Monstrous Regiment

[chaoticdesertdweller]

📸 Chuck Glover

[angelunderheaven]

[just-a-girl-07]