Notes From My Knapsack 1-14-07
Jeff Gill

Bright Side, Or Right Side?

This is what I'm talking about.
Ohio State's football team goes, what, 15 and 1, plays in the national
championship game, has the quarterback win Coach Heisman's trophy, and everyone
is in mourning, downcast, muttering "what went wrong?"
Yes, I did watch the game. To the end. We stunk. Over seven weeks off, eating
banquet food five nights a week, and watching way too much football on TV
(think about it: how many college games do you think they watch during the
season other than "film" in the locker room?), and their brains were flabby,
not their bodies.
One more half and they woulda had 'em, I am sure.
But the point is, why are so many of us so very down? It was a good season,
with much to remember with contentment. Great moments, stellar performances,
and carrying the burden of a Number One rating almost six months. Yeah, and a
huge loss on Jan. 8.
This is what I was getting at about Newark and Licking County last week. Are
there problems here? You don't have to be clever a'tall to find 'em. Can you
honestly, accurately, precisely say that there are good things happening in
Licking County in general, and right down to Courthouse Square in Newark in
particular? Sure, and it doesn't take too much looking.
Last week I was waiting for a class tour at the Octagon Earthworks in the
parking lot of Moundbuilders Country Club. While the Little Guy and I were
waiting, a car pulled into the otherwise empty parking lot. They had North
Carolina plates, and walked over to the interpretive sign, so I said hello,
introduced myself, and said I'd be happy to answer any questions 'til the class
showed up.
This couple was interested in history, culture, and art, and they "chose" to
drive through Licking County on their way from Buffalo to Cincinnati to back
home. (I didn't ask, but got the impression it was a second honeymoon/25th
anniversary trip for them from Niagra Falls to family in Lexington KY.)
After talking about the 2000 year old mounds, the almost 100 year old golf
course, and the weird weather, they said "This sure looks like a nice place to
live! Can you tell us where there are any art museums, anything else to see?" I
gave them direction to The Works (and told them to see if they could get up to
the second floor courtroom in the Courthouse), LeFevre Hall at OSU-N, and Burke
Hall on the Dension campus, mentioned some galleries on Broadway in Granville,
and then said goodbye as the students arrived.
Do you hear what I'm saying? Of all the towns and all the attractions they
could have seen between western New York state and Kentucky, they came through
Licking County. And they were glad they did. And they bought at the very least
a meal, and may well (I don't know) have ended up staying a night, maybe even
bought some stuff. Like art.
The Urban Institute is an organization that does fascinating work on assessment
and policy for communities. You can look at most of their publications online
in "PDF" format through their website, www.urban.org. They aren't just about
big cities, but the nature and development of places where large numbers of
people come together, and how to make those interactions positive, mutually
beneficial, and sustainable.
They have found that in measuring typical "quality of life" benchmarks, far too
many areas end up unintentionally following the "drunk under the lamppost"
method: looking where there's the most light, not where you need to be looking.
Analysts tend to follow the most available data, so Census Bureau numbers and
standard economic measures carry the most weight.
Two insights they gave me in reading through a chunk of their material have to
do with "creative classes." Community vitality and quality of life are often
tied at one level or another to the raw numbers of artists, art galleries, art
sales, and other artistic venues like theaters, concerts, et cetera.  Urban
Institute scholars have asked whether or not we're missing "the rest of the
iceberg" in that approach -- those are the visible creative professionals, but
doctors, lawyers, academics, engineers, and many other professions are all
creative in different ways. Those "hidden" creative professionals usually know
that the creative process can be spurred by experiencing other forms of
creativity, so a programmer at State Farm is interested in the fabric art of an
executive at Longaberger who goes to hear a concert where one of the players is
county coroner (none of those three are made up, by the way).
So the second insight is that a community, while being careful not to find what
they want to find, needs to make sure they use not only standard quantitative
measures, but figure out some benchmarks that are meaningful for who and where
they are.
And promote the heck out of 'em.
Technically, that's called "indigenous venues of validation," but it just means
don't measure yourself against Albuquerque or Santa Fe or Taos, or even the
Short North Gallery Hop. Art and creativity are bubbling up all over Licking
County, in local libraries, school shows right down through elementary grades,
and in church fellowship halls.
I don't think we've even begun to correctly calculate the value of what we
have, which is why so many people aren't sure we have much. The Ohio Arts
Council (www.ohiosoar.org) has some approaches you can read as well.
Licking County, let's finish brushing the lint off our lapels and step out
proudly. We're competitive way above our weight class, and in ways we have not even
acknowledged yet.

Jeff Gill is a writer, storyteller, and supply preacher around central Ohio;
tell him about a creative endeavor near you through knapsack77@gmail.com.

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Notes From My Knapsack 1-07-07
Jeff Gill

Choosing a Place To Live

A few weeks ago, our family meandered to downtown Newark in the evening. It was
a weeknight, and we had a bag of canned goods to deliver to the "Elves in
Action" with the county Food Pantry Network by the courthouse square gazebo.
Turning off of Rt. 16, we came up West Main Street with a glorious view of the
Christmas-lit Courthouse. A lap around the square wove around many cars, since
Marie Osmond was appearing within the hour at the Midland Theater. On the
second lap, we pulled into the elf lane and the Little Guy handed out the bag
to waiting hands, getting a discreet candy cane in response.
We paused to let a mass of pedestrians cross to where a smaller crowd was
taking pictures of each other sitting with Mark Twain by the box office under
the marquee. Park Place Coffee Roasters was open, and the Natoma Café had a
full complement at the bar. Our last lap showed the Manna Restaurant and their
McCousin in the eatery business down the block both bustling, and then we were
on our way home, but first we looped south of the square, past the lovely Penn
Depot, turning just past the attractively exteriored Lil’ Bear downtown
grocery. Finally, around The Works complex where we had been to an art show and
bought quite a few presents a few weeks before.
And people fret about Newark’s downtown why, again?
Sure, it is no doubt an ongoing effort to keep businesses going these days in
the Ohio economy. Not just downtowns, though: I know folks out at the mall in
Heath who worry about the foot traffic volume and sales figures. American
willingness to walk twenty feet to save a buck versus spending more at drive-up
windows is fading to non-existent, and spending more for quality along with
walking around a (gasp) corner seems to be a lost art.
All true, but the bottom line that strikes me as worth underlining is that
Licking County has a vital, vibrant county seat downtown.
Hey, I heard that snort.
It baffles me as to why so many can’t believe it when people like, um, me say
that we’re doing great. There’s a combination of living in the past ("you
shoulda seen it when…") and not getting out much. Like to Columbus, f’r
instance.
Do we have problems? Oh, sure. Read a little microfilm on downtown Newark over
the last hundred years, and I’m liking our current crop. We’ve come a long,
long way. There are no department stores near Park National Bank, but Lazarus
and Ayres aren’t looking too good these days either.
If you have business that takes you to downtown Mansfield, Springfield, Akron,
Canton, Lima, Toledo, Xenia, or Portsmouth (just to name a few I’ve been to in
the last couple years), let alone nearby Columbus, tell me you see a place you’
d swap with downtown Newark.
Yes, the Licking County Convention and Visitors Bureau recently was very kind,
and honored me as their Volunteer of the Year (aka "sucker who always says yes
award"). I point this out only to say I have no personal angle to polish in
promoting our communities in Licking County, since I already have the award. I
enjoy doing local tours and what they call "step-ons" with tour buses passing
through because I really, truly think this is a wonderful place to live and
raise a family. The Lovely Wife and I came here from elsewhere, and came back a
second time, because we chose this place.
Which brings me to a web site that might be the nugget of a good idea for
someone here to put together. When we were visiting family over the holidays in
Indianapolis, a county seat with a few urban problems, but a truly awesome
downtown, I found out about a web site called "I Choose Indy." You can go to
www.ichooseindy.com and look around.
Some infotech professionals wanted to share their own take on how they chose
that town, as opposed to a marketing set of slogans.
Why have people chosen Licking County? They are, and in growing numbers. What
would we learn by giving them a chance to tell us why? It might even help us
all, longtime, newer, and just arriving residents of the Land of Legend, to
figure out what we need to protect and preserve and maintain, along with a few
new ideas for how to all make a community.
And look for more on why this is not only a great place to live, but to have
people visit, in 2007.

Jeff Gill is a writer, storyteller, and supply preacher around central Ohio;
tell him why you chose Licking County at knapsack77@gmail.com.