Notes from my Knapsack 6-9-22

Notes from my Knapsack 6-9-22
Jeff Gill

Making choices on a changing menu
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In case it hasn't been clear, I think the advent of Intel on our immediate horizon is an amazing piece of news which is the culmination of many hopes and even prayers for the economic future of our county, a place which saw as much industrial decline as most anywhere in the Midwest between 1980 and the early 2000's.

And I'm equally certain that there are going to be huge challenges, major problems, and for certain individuals, harm and pain, as a result of this impending development. Both can be true, the good news and the bad, at the same time.

Let's not forget, a new baby is a joy and cause for celebration, and that same child will cause the loss of a great deal of sleep, incur expenses, and limit parental options for some time to come. Both at the same time!

The greatest concern I hear is the idea that having a few tens of billions of dollars of investment landing with a mighty thud in our county, adjoining our school district, resounding through our community, will obliterate everything we're used to, all that we love about this village we call Granville. It would be foolish in the extreme to pretend that's not part of what's coming.

Which is why I want us to speak out loud, to each other, around the town, about what we love so much we're willing to make some sacrifices to save, to preserve, to maintain as it is.

There's an old line in conservatism, politically and culturally speaking, that I believe comes from G.K. Chesterton, about how conservation of anything, material or spiritual, civic or personal, is not passive. You don't preserve things by just sitting there, standing pat. The example is a white post on a busy street corner (and G.K.C. was writing in the horse and buggy days). If you want to preserve it as it appears, it takes regular painting and occasionally putting it back up, as dust and mud and little kids with sticks bashing at it and horses brushing against it means it's constantly in danger of becoming not a white post on a corner but a splintered piece of wood lying horizontal in the mud.

St. Luke's cupola, a fixture of our Broadway streetscape? That's completely new. Avery-Downer House down the road? Some of the pillars may be replaced for what I believe is a third time. To keep Broadway looking "the way it always has" takes regular investment in upkeep, painting being the least of it.

What should not change? I'd like to keep a mix of longtime residents and new arrivals both living in and active in town. I love our public spaces and how we use them, including the occasional closure of Broadway itself for events. Fourth of July street fair plans are proceeding apace (huzzah for Granville Kiwanis), Pelotonia, Bluesfest. Parades from Memorial Day to July 4th itself, sidewalk cafe life…

I could go on for myself, but the civic question is two-fold: how long the list, and how much will we pay to keep things "as they are"? And beyond that, how will we adapt to the major changes that are sure to come all around us?


Jeff Gill is a writer, storyteller, and preacher in central Ohio; he's got all sorts of lists. Tell him what's at the top of yours at knapsack77@gmail.com, or follow @Knapsack on Twitter.