The Fabric Rolls On

The goal: attend my brother's football game and glean what information--topics of conversation, if you will--were brought up along the sidelines. The result: a rather tender throat, few topics aside from the obvious--football--, and a tied game against one of their toughest opponents.

Tonight was a big game. Well, big by eight-year-old standards. Especially for my brother, who was playing against his best friend's team. Lucky for him, Mitch (the buddy) is a the 3rd grade equivalent of a running back (who just so happens to be as fast as greased lightning if he can break away from the cloister of boys). Tim (my brother) is shaping up to be a great tackle/defensive back, hence resulting in the obvious and anticipated collisions.

Aside from my apparent infatuation with football, the other topics at hand were as follows: YMCA, additions on the house, flat tires, and other minute topics. Of those, really the only "newsworthy" topic is the YMCA. Quite a lovely new structure has suddenly arisen next to the sports complex. Due to open sometime this month or next. Funded in part by about $100 p/year tax increase for Elk River area families, as well as being maintained and furnished by the City selling $12 million in bonds.

From this visit, as well as from previous games and practices, Elk River-ians seem confident in the state of their community. For that matter, so am I. We are growing. We are thriving. For all intents and purposes, Elk River is set to grow.

Other than that, on the surface, all is how it has been in my little Elk River.

Threads in the Fabric of My Community

In my community, there is no one spot for community chatter. Any place where people run into friends, neighbors or family becomes an impromptu stage for any discussions of interest. Be they matters of education needs, local elections, or national elections.

My approach to this subject may be a little different. My younger brothers are in youth football and I frequently play chauffeur. Surprisingly, or maybe not so surprisingly, there's a lot of talk! Parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and friends all show up to see their little champ play.

Now, I've noticed that very few people actually get up and actively cheer for their little one. I'm a screamer. You couldn't pay me to stay in one spot during the game, or keep quiet, for that matter. I prefer to follow the line or scrimmage, yelling praise as one brother sacked the diminutive quarterback, or as my other brother valiantly protected his quarterback. Most bystanders, however, prefer to sit in their comfy lawn chairs and quietly discuss the goings-on of the game. Or, they multi-task: chit-chatting about if they'll vote for Obama or McCain for president, or how their high school kids complain profusely about their new principal. Any number of topics.

Tomorrow night, another game. My goal is to get a more definitive list of dialogue for you. Stay tuned!

Community Learning

While sifting through the Covering Communities website, I found many useful tips. Especially if journalism becomes a point of definitive interest for me. Anyways, beyond the interactive puzzle on the 7 Knowledge Keys for Covering a Community, I found the 7 keys themselves to be very informative. Listing them out just made it so much more obvious than just thinking about it. Before reading the list and their descriptions, typically I'd think somewhere along the lines of "OK, topic is __blank__, it relates to these people in this place and happened at this time. Find out the affects it had on said community." But now, with descriptions like "Concerns: What are the concerns, challenges and issues that people talk about? How do they define those concerns? What are the icons (labels) or buzz phrases people use?"* and "People: What are the things people hold valuable (such as heritage, sports, work, leisure)? How do people talk to one another? What is the language they use? What are the norms and practices that shape people’s interactions?"*, a whole new avenue of ideas and questions is opened. Interrelating aspirations, civic places, concerns, people, places, sources, and stereotypes gives the journalist a bigger arsenal in hunting down the truth of the story. In all honesty, at this point, I wouldn't have thought of even considering some one's aspirations towards a certain topic unless that was the whole focal point of whatever storyline, let alone incorporating civic places and stereotypes.

In relation to my community, I am now armed to find the crux of whatever topic. Be it the art world, local elections, or even the national elections, I have a few tricks up my sleeve.

*Covering Communities