Bifocal vision - when the streets seem familiar and strange, memory-filled and yet foreign

 

County seat of Clinton County (MI), St. Johns (pop. 7000) with fire station mural of 1st responders.

Visiting a place once inhabited for decades after the space of several years, twin visions fill the imagination as memories superimpose the present-day sights and sounds. A few familiar friends and acquaintances add to this bifocal vision: seeing things no longer there but also seeing what is currently in view. Dozens of times I walked or biked past this building before any public art covered it. So I can see it in my mind's eye and also see it today.

Summing up the different experience of a place when you live there versus pass through as a spectator, tourist, or audience member, the local resident wakes up and conducts the business of daily life. He or she considers the grid of streets, the cultural landscape of landmarks and well-known events (seasonal cycles and one-time occurrences, too), and the social terrain (who is connected to whom, which paths offer least versus most resistance to organizing, collaborating, and getting things accomplished) as the field of play; a backdrop to the drama and stories of one's days and trail of decisions. But things are different for the outsider just observing the surfaces or intermittently paying attention to details but otherwise distracted by one's own preoccupations and pending matters of one's own home ground. For the visitor, only the tangible characteristics come into brief focus (buildings, sensory impressions, stories gleaned from readings or local guides or acquaintances residing in that place). All of the daily minutia passes unnoticed. In other words, local people traverse the local sea of meanings to make their lives thrive. All of the surroundings have consequence and value and comparisons to be made. All the surroundings are familiar; the opposite of exotic and strange. But outside people cross the local sea of meanings mostly unaware and uncaring about what lurks beneath the waves, what hazards are well known, and without the local lore that makes things interesting and memorable.

Jumping the elements of Proper Nouns (persons, places, things/events), a similar bifocal distinction occurs. Whereas a person you know well is three-dimensional and is part of many contexts and conversations and memories, a stranger seems only two-dimensional (lacking personal familiarity to the observer). Likewise of an annual event or a one-time occurrence: locals fit it into their quilt of many meanings, memories, and relationships, but outsiders lack these many personal interactions. Using the distinction of know (static: facts, data) versus know (relational: to people, places, software, tools, procedures/processes). The local person knows things in the relational sense of the word. The outsider knows things about the place, people, and things.

But when you are both filled with local lore, memories, relationships AND you are coming back as an outsider, having made daily living experiences for 10 years elsewhere, then the experience is double-layered: both insider and outsider at the same time. In anthropological terms, you have drifted to the middle position between familiar and exotic, between de-exoticized vision and de-familiarized/strangeness, being BOTH active participant and passive observer.

By extension, a similar familiarization process occurs when getting to know a rental car - at first strange, but eventually easily operated and familiar; ditto of a new piece of software (or app); ditto of the encounter of a new genre of food, music, or literature/film. 

In all of these parallel illustrations of the natural/normal/accustomed/automatic versus the strange/unfamiliar/awkward, a person's relationship to the new thing progresses, step by step so that what began as ungainly and static and lifeless can eventually become fluent and an organic extension of one's own body and mind.

The advice to a person traveling to a new place, entering into a new personal interaction, or learning from a new experience is to aspire to the middle position that is bifocal: able to see both the new AND the familiar, to be an outside observer AND an active player in the arena of activity. That way you have the best of both visions: local and outsider, always ready to expand what people say and do when you enlarge the conversation by drawing on your dual perspective.

Books organized and mental organization, too

 

Counseling office & church minister's study before moving day

Church ministers combine a life of the mind with a life in the community of worshipers and surrounding society, too. This photo shows some of the built-in bookcases in the minister's offices. The years of seminary and then the decades of leading a few different congregations, attending and presenting at conferences, and exchanging books with colleagues and church members has filled many shelves with books over the years. But the Covid-19 pandemic put a stop to normal face to face church life, confining it to online communication at first, then in summer 2021 with a hybrid of online together with in-person for those comfortable with the idea of mingling with others once again. Stalwart congregants got online or somehow kept in touch with some of their fellow believers. But others stopped participating casually as they would once do in seasonal high points of the church year.

Meanwhile, younger generations preoccupy themselves with things other than church fellowship and studies, praising and praying, and volunteering. Lifetime church members and friends move away, grow unable to participate freely, perhaps become sick or sometimes may die. The net result of declining attendance and therefore reduced donations of self and of money means that the fixed costs of the large property cannot be carried by the continuously shrinking body of believers. The church leaders brought a plan to the rest of the church to sell the old place and carry on the teachings of Jesus and community involvements at a smaller facility during a transitional year or two before resolving the best form to fit modern times and constraints while still supporting one another to "be God's person" or agent to enact positive change through action, relationships, and other times by inaction - being present, not just doing things.

This photo shows books organized by themes and thinkers for the current minister of the church in the weeks before vacating the old building and initiating church life in a much smaller setting so that effort, time, and money can be spent on community outreach and engagement rather than on maintenance and expenses of the 19th century worship space. The cases of books present a visual architecture of knowledge that has grown year by year organically, but which soon will be disassembled and fragmented into labeled boxes. This year by year structure of printed knowledge corresponds in some ways to the compartments and connections in the mind of the reader who has gathered these many authors of diverse eras and locations in one place. So while the physical edifice will soon be scattered into many cardboard boxes, the duplicate library inside the minister's head will remain in some ways.

Mainline churches in USA adjust to tides of social change

Freeze-frame from 28 minute interview on January , 2021

Each generation enters into church life differently, according to social conditions of the time and stage of one's own life, things that may be changing or that may be staying the same. The contextual meaning for worship and shared experiences is supplied by sources like the popular culture, educational system, one's own network of peers who provide a reference to life, and the arc of aging across one's life course. All these shifting circumstances color the unchanging Word of God as taught, read, studied, praised, and preached. Even though the lyrics and published text do not change, these surrounding meanings of life make the same habits of heart, the annual cycle of traditional church activities and one-time events, as well as the interpretation of scripture remain "alive" - not tried once and done, not tired out, not static, but a living word to fit each life; each moment in the flow of social history; and indeed the challenges to the organization and cultural institution itself.

The video recording of this conversation with Rev. Olson in mid-Michigan touches on the sea changes from his childhood church experiences of the 1960s-70s, then his years of seminary and internship in the 1980s and the decades since full-time work up to the present at one of the churches in the traditional mainline Protestant denominations, the First Congregational Church of St. Johns, Michigan. He describes the range of functions he serves; how the generational changes are reflected in the kinds of things worshipers value and seek; and how the tides of social change -- very most recently the months of Covid-19 pandemic suppression of face-to-face church life -- are undermining the 20th century routines and expectations for church membership and the fellowship inside the church community and outside, too, in the wider town and world of social relationships. The interview wraps up with a message for seminarians today and for both the clergy and the worshipers of five, 10 or 50 years from now: the message remains the same, only the times change. Rev. Olson says not to fret or feel beholden to the fixed Order of Service or to the building for gathering to worship. Instead, cling tightly to the message and enlist whatever media and working arrangements most successfully engage others.

There is documentary significance for recording this moment when churches, workplaces, and families beset by the transmissibility of the Covid-19 coronavirus have been meeting and communicating online rather than in person. Once the waves of death and economic ruin of the pandemic stop and the rebuilding of lives and livelihoods can resume, then some of the lessons and innovations of the online basis for social relationships and doing business in the pre-pandemic way will remain. New forms of interacting will rise up where the older habits once stood unchallenged. Stepping back from the documentary purpose of this conversation with a clergyman who has seen the 20th century structures in their prime now fading and the first signs of the 21st century structures rise up, there are a few observations to make from an anthropological point of view.

One observation is about Organized Religion's location and visibility on the social landscape, and about the its importance in the USA now: school sporting events used to begin with the national anthem and a prayer (especially before football, where there is risk of injury or worse), but now those practices are not ever-present; maybe the anthem, but seldom a public prayer - although individuals may still be in the habit to do so by themselves. And public meetings, committee work, and local governance in the public eye would also sometimes include a prayer. A majority of citizens were nominally enrolled as members at one religious institution or another, if not for guidance in one's personal spiritual growth, then for company in life's passage and the aura of propriety that comes with appearing dressed up at worship events. In military organizations, too, a designated clergy person would be invited to pray at certain points in the life of the company or battalion. The expansion of church services on radio and TV allowed those unable, unwilling, or possibly unwelcome from attending in person to stay connected from a distance to the teachings and melodies of the religious organization, too. And while cable channels (narrow-, not broad-casting) and Internet compete with the radio and TV forms of communication, the numbers of people attending and going beyond nominal attendance in a place of worship to get more actively involved dwindles year by year, generation by generation. In summary, religious organizations, their leaders, and their congregations are less prominent in their visible presence in civil society and public life, and less hearkened to by fellow believers and the expanding numbers of non-believers.

Another observation is about the place of religion in the diverse lives and livelihoods, as well as the community sources of belonging nowadays versus 20 years ago and before. "Cramming for finals" is one image for the tendency of people at middle age or older to develop an appetite for matters that go beyond self, and the material world. People often begin to notice issues, seek answers, or sharpen their interest in how to respond to misfortune in self and those one cares most about; in what happens after bodily death; in one's legacy to those who survive one's own demise; and so on. In other words, aging, a serious illness or accident, or loss of a loved one seems to bring religion into the foreground of a person's life. At the opposite end of the life course are the youngest members of society; some of whom are churched and others not. Growing up in a church makes everything about it familiar and easy to take-for-granted until adulthood. At that point a young person may sever their church ties, explore new ones, or begin to compare the World Religions as one part of the natural search for one's identity. Those with no formal religion during their formative years have fewer wrong notions or old habits to face in the search for a religious community that they can feel part of.

A third observation about the subject of religious life in this time of rapid changes in authority, sources of meaning, and models for living has to do with the function of religion in the society overall. There is much more to it than the generalization about religion being the "opium of the masses" as Karl Marx is credited saying about the many citizens congregating each week. Economically, a body of believers may benefit each other materially or by information shared and wisdom offered when making one's own decisions big or small. Spiritually, a church provides a place for individual and group expression in song, worship, and prayer. In life crisis (birth, wedding, funeral) a religious community shares the moment and facilitates the rituals that are part of these times. Educationally, an organized group of practitioners is able to host study groups, discussions, and programs of learning. Socially, an organized religion can provide social services to those outside (or within) the church. Politically, a formal organization like a church can assert a position, critique social injustice, and advocate for social changes.

All together the transitions that most churches are undergoing during the pandemic and even before that, in reference to the larger society's own changes, makes for a fascinating story. This video interview with Rev. Matt Olson gives a glimpse into these matters through the lens of one church during the past several decades.

Ambiguity - the same glass half-empty and half-full; political signage, too

Corner lot on town center highway expresses political support 10/2020

First came the yard signs, then more recently the Hallowe'en decorations appeared on the house and around the lawn. Putting the skeleton in juxtaposition with the biggest sign could have several interpretations. Probably this supporter of the incumbent White House resident intended to make the display seasonally fitting with the custom of lawn decoration rather than to suggest an astute political meaning. And yet, the 215,000 deaths as of early October 2020 caused by the elected leader's lack of leadership seems to fit well with the banner: Trump 2020 truly does produce skeletons.

The same double meaning seems to come from the foreground yard sign, "How Many Seniors"? The picture of the Michigan Governor overlays the 'O' in SENI*RS. The hashtag says "Whitmer Death Toll." Probably the sign designer intended to criticize the executive orders to restrict visits to nursing homes and other institutions that support elderly residents. And yet, ironic like the earlier example, it is due to the Governor's leadership that so few elderly have died from pandemic complications. Critics of the restrictions want freer access for themselves to visit loved ones, which provides a transmission vector to kill those same loved ones.

In the middle of the photo, in front of the large Trump sign is one that says "My governor is an idiot." Curiously the sign designer made the largest letters spell IDIOT. For passing drivers unable to pause and puzzle out the entire message, only IDIOT can be recognized at first glance. The result is that the sign could be interpreted to self-label the occupant of the house. Related, the root of the word idiot is IDIO, the core of words like idiosyncratic, idiomatic, idiocentric, and ID (Id, Ego, Superego). So 'idio' means self. Idiocentric means self-centered. Taken literally, "idiot" means a person concerned only with self, not others. And while the person erecting the yard sign is pointing a finger toward the Michigan governor ostensibly, ironically the person seems to point at himself or herself: a self-centered person who sees the world  not as a team sport but as an individual one. Self is all that matters and any attempt to govern for the Common Good infringes on Self.

Taking the point about diametrically opposing interpretations of a sign, slogan, or criticism even further, the tidal wave of irony in just about everything coming from the mouth of Donald J. Trump and his acolytes is astounding. Jibes about an adversary's incompetence so often seem to fit the one issuing them. Cries of foul just as easily seem to apply to the one crying. It should give a person pause to see how readily one intended message can backfire or amplify irony so that the meaning seems self-referential rather than to stick to an opponent. This proliferation of irony and obfuscation is a species of doublespeak: saying one thing but meaning the reverse. But then, so nimble are human minds that meaning can be imagined or extracted from the barest of source material. Rationalizations can prop up a decision or action that began from emotional responses. Very likely this ability to find contradictory meanings or sniff out hypocrisy has allowed social life for so many generations and in so many languages and habitats.

Outdoor movie night hosted at church parking lot

Summer get-together during Covid-19 pandemic, masks at hand, as needed

Here and there the cars park to face the inflatable movie screen and sound system. The closest space is cordoned off for people to arrange their chairs without any worry about cars being in the way. Before the sky darkened enough for the digital projector to fill the screen, a rock and roll trio of church members played a few sets of pop songs as church members, friends, and members of the general public began to arrive and socialize, either with masks (especially those with their own health problems, or anxious about any risk caused by bringing Covid-19 back home to others or infecting co-workers) or by keeping approximately 6 feet between each other.

As the pandemic overtook this county seat in middle February, the church's liturgical calendar was complicated by the need to close the building. Fairly soon their leadership arrived at a solution involving drive-in worship: people isolate themselves in their car or truck, then tune into the low-power FM signal on their phone or car radio to listen to whoever is at the microphone, sometimes broadcasting from indoors and sometimes from outdoors. Initially things were restricted to outdoor, in-car, gatherings. Then the Michigan governor made incremental changes to the emergency orders and gatherings out of doors up to 100 persons (in masks) developed. At one point limited indoor worship also was permitted with distancing, masking, and limiting the exposure time. These days there are some worshipers who scatter themselves widely among the pews inside and others in their cars at the worship hour on Sunday mornings. The worship leader makes an effort to broadcast from both indoors and outdoors over the course of the service so that everyone has a chance to see him in person, rather than hearing only a disembodied voice.

The logistics of serving the sacrament of communion was a challenge to overcome. Eventually, they created individual serving size packets for each person taking the communion. The commercial ones use grape juice instead of wine (grape juice that has been fermented). So in the interest of conforming to pre-pandemic customs of using wine, the church crew prepares their own individual serving size packets.

This photo is taken soon after the movie began. The wide-angle lens exaggerates the small dimension of the projector screen. In fact it is the size of a very small house side. All together there were  perhaps 50-70 people attending of all ages, mostly adults, many of them retired or nearing retirement age. By way of concessions for sale, a brightly painted and lit up ice-cream truck was open for business to the left of this frame, near the church entrance. A table on the porch of the church had pop-corn and soft-drinks on offer, too. The evening music group with amplified speakers was playing near the corner nearest the church and movie screen.

Everybody seemed especially grateful for the chance to mingle informally in the warm summer evening, either unmasked and keeping their distance from each other, or standing at the pre-pandemic accustomed "personal space" of 3-4 feet apart.

Community Thanksgiving Dinner 2019

This year the 4th Thursday fell on November 28. Some organizations have offered the traditional Thanksgiving menu to the general public free of charge (or by donation if so desired) for dozens of years. Other organizers are more recent. The full menu includes roast turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, squash (e.g. combined acorn, butternut, maybe hubbard varieties of squash + butter and sugar, salt and pepper), stuffing, green beans (in casserole or alone), cranberry relish and either pumpkin or apple pie for dessert.

typical plate heaped with the full menu and added relish tray vegetables

The biggest venues are able to feed diners and volunteers in the space of a few hours numbering 1,000 or more. Smaller or less well established community dinners might serve just a few dozen people. But what is common across these settings, apart from a similar menu, is that money and in-kind donations from local sources supply the materials, decorations, and sometimes the venue rental fee, if there normally is one applied. Furthermore, there is usually a great number of people or organizations keen to offer some of their time in the preparation, serving, or clean-up. The actual coordination, promotion, and soliciting of donations is carried out by a steering committee. It may well be common for one or more churches to directly support the meal with people to work, to dine, to decorate, and to clean up. Sometimes an optional (ecumenical) worship service of song, (e.g. Christian) scripture and commentary will precede the public celebration of the community spirit on the occasion of the meal, as in this case yesterday.

standing up to sing a few verses of the hymns

Depending on the community, there may be many who know each other by name or just by face. Others may be unfamiliar. Still others will be old friends of many years. In much bigger demographic spaces, there may be few people who the diners have seen here and there around the city. The atmosphere for dining is very rare; something seldom experienced outside of this setting: (1) there is no cost - unlike a restaurant there is no tipping, no assigned server to meet one's wishes, (2) there may be some familiar people sharing one's table, or it could be the others are strangers, (3) but the premise of celebration (as in an open-house for a new high school graduate; or like the wedding receptions that bring family, friends, and unknown people together) and the theme of Giving Thanks tends to set the atmosphere: to be friendly and helpful and respectful of one another. In other words, there is an expectation that partly binds everyone in the room together, despite the various degrees of familiarity or strangerness that underlies the relationships there: "we all belong to this community and can express our gratefulness in common for the wonderful food and hospitality being offered here and now." It is neither a business transaction, nor a private family gathering. Instead it is somewhat family-like and also a public good or common resource.

The photos here come from the Clinton Community Thanksgiving Celebration and Dinner, which began its first 10 years hosted at one church, then moved to a community hall, and now this year has grown big enough to fill the county 4-H fairgrounds building. In the first years the public perception was that a community kitchen or feast was characterized for poor people, individuals far from home and family, or for people finding themselves alone on the holiday. But from the start the organizers tried to promote a more inclusive meaning of the shared meal: not just a stop-gap or last resort when a home-made feast was not possible or desirable. Rather this offered a chance to feel joyful in the company of others. An analogy might be the movie theater experience versus the home theater experience. Somehow experiencing the program all together makes things different - not just bigger, brighter, louder, but also witnessed by people you know and others you don't know. But for a few emotional peaks you are part of a larger wave of feelings. Likewise, to feast with others is particularly satisfying. There is nothing wrong with dining at home or joining a few friends at a restaurant. But a volunteer driven, community supported, and publicly conducted celebration has very strong meaning and feeling: joy, gratitude, delight, surprise, satiety, memories and reminiscing, and so on.

serving line staffed with volunteers

Logistically there are sometimes too many people who want to volunteer; sometimes too much of a particular food (in-kind) donation; and sometimes a headcount that falls higher or lower than expected, and so on. Imperfect, though, the process is, somehow everyone seems to enjoy the meal, the interactions, and the achievement of the larger project. In the case of the community dinner shown in these pictures there is a strong connection to the town's food pantry. So any food that is cooked but not served will be portioned into storage containers to be frozen and offered to people who rely on the food bank to make ends meet each month. Similarly, food that was received but not prepared (in excess of the needs being planned for) also is given immediately afterwards to the food pantry staff of volunteers. So there is relatively little waste.

Some years to food preparation volunteers have reserved the peelings of vegetables to go to a local farmer's hogs. And cans and bottles can easily be set aside for the city's curbside recycling service. So far, though, paper plates and cups have been resorted to when the venue shifted away from the church and its built-in dishwashing equipment. So the feast does produce many bags of landfill waste. At the present historical moment that seems to be the price of producing a community dinner that fosters feelings of belonging together in a community. It will be interesting to see if vestiges of community spirit live on many years from now.

napkin prompts the reader to consider conservation of resources and energy

Eating fish on Fridays

menu reminder of weekly fish dinner in the six weeks before Easter (click image for full size view)

There are places and times and groups of people for whom a main dish of fish, rather than customary habits of eating meat, is considered a minor expression of personal sacrifice. Sometimes this is practiced all year in communal dinners or at the private household level, but other times this is undertaken as a group experience or private dietary habit only in the six week period leading up to the Christian celebration of Easter, when the resurrection of the rabbi Jesus Christ is commemorated every year in springtime (northern hemisphere) around the time of the Jewish commemoration of Passover.

School districts, particularly when there are many Catholics in the surrounding catchment area, as well as other public institutions like elderly care facilities, or hospitals, for example will also commonly include fish on the menu in acknowledgment of those dietary practices for those who wish to follow the fish on Friday custom.

Deep-fried foods like french fries (FF abbreviation in the miniature menu card, above) and battered fish (very often perch and/or smelt and/or cod - at least here in the Midwest of USA) once were rare treats because of the amount of oil needed to do the frying, and for the rich taste of fatty and crunchy food. But with the public education of dietary health and concerns about high cholesterol and heart healthy foods more generally, the public dinners like this one advertised, often provide baked fish as an alternative to the batter-dipped and deep-fried entree.

Leaving aside the nutritional & ecological dimensions of sustainable fisheries and humane harvest of live natural resources, there are the many historical and cultural associations of the fish among followers of Jesus of Nazareth. For example, there is the phrase quoted in the Bible from Jesus that speaks of "making [his disciples] fishers of men." And there is a story of a meal for 5,000 men along with their women and children (loaves and fishes). Another story describes an ancient Christian code to identify fellow believers: it took the form of two curves in mirror image to resemble the head, body, and tail of a fish. Scenes like the stormy Sea of Galilee that Jesus commanded to become calm; the small businessmen who ran fish catches there who Jesus counted as some of his disciples; and the word-play of the ancient Greek word for fish, ICHTHYS, as an abbreviation for "I" + "CHristian" also can be attached to the fish. Finally, since according to tradition, Jesus was executed on Friday before sunset and the start of the weekly Jewish Sabbath, by serving fish on Friday instead of ordinary meat, the penitent follower is signaling a dim echo of the suffering that Jesus went through before and during his crucifixion. Dissertations and books probably discuss the meaning of fish for Christians at great length, but for now these scattered meanings give some of the sense of the context for "Fish on Fridays," as seen in this picture, above, from middle Michigan, USA on February 19, 2019.

Killing the deer, paying the meat processors, claiming the trophies

early December local weekly newspaper: hunters' page

The weekly newspaper is a mix of advertising, sports coverage, public service information and government announcements, legal notices, and feature stories. For many years around the time of the annual firearm deer hunting season there has been a picture section with brief identification of the hunter(s) and the number of antler points on the slain animal.

Partly this public display of wild animals killed by licensed hunters is made possible by digital cameras, Internet transmission of images, and desktop editing the layout of the newspaper. In this electronic way, then, very recent events can be placed into the pages of the small print-run newspapers that are delivered to businesses and households each week.

But more than the technology of rapid reporting and citizen journalism, a more interesting question is why do readers and the newspaper editors put the stories and relatively large images in print for the two weeks starting November 15 in the state of Michigan? Not every household that receives a paper includes a current or former hunter of their own, and not every reader is familiar with the protagonists in the photos, but maybe they will have heard the family name of at least one of them. That same can be said of the editors: maybe one or two hunters will be known in some way by one or two staff at the newspaper. This social acquaintance or personal relationship does not explain the reason why the page reserved for local stories and surrounded by advertisers is devoted to the hunting season results. But as a two week event involving humans against (or in cooperation with) nature, there is an element of drama and ancient struggle implied, even if the technology and creature comforts have advanced a lot from earlier days.

In summary perhaps it is a combination of timely event (the hunting season), visual interest (pictures attract readers and require less effort than text-alone), some personal connection, and the ancient drama suggested in the frozen image that culminates the hunter's training, preparation, and execution of the chase. All these things together help the local paper to keep readers coming back for more, much to the satisfaction of the local businesses whose advertising keeps them in the eye of the community of readers.

Sharing food, conversation, and the company of others

2018 community dinner on Thanksgiving day in Clinton Co., Michigan

The community feast started here in 2010 with the idea of a hot meal and traditional menu (turkey, pies, etc) for one and all, whether a big family, or someone living alone. Some cities feed hundreds of diners and volunteers, but for a rural county seat with 55,000 residents across the entire county, the number of meals is 120 to 200.

The concept of "all together" instead of "can't afford the full production of a traditional Thanksgiving feast" was one obstacle that the steering committee persistently worked on. In their news releases and advertising, word of mouth, and the interactions with donors and diners and volunteers the message was stubbornly expressed: this is not a free lunch for poor people, but rather a shared space for all to mingle and embrace the abundance connected with the feeling of thanksgiving.

There were so many operational details to manage in order to prepare the people, the foods, the venue, and the volunteers and diners. Then all leftovers were expertly packed into sets of 4-person meals to be frozen at the local food pantry and given out in the following weeks. Beyond these descriptive details and the history of the undertaking, though, perhaps most interesting of all is the "why" question. There is the nutritional and social satisfaction of the event for all parties engaged, but there are probably deeper reasons to take on the work of staging the public occasion that come from this moment in history here and in so many other urban centers around the state and the union.

Until ten years ago the trends of increasingly isolated, privatized lives were separating people from each other more and more until people, even ones in the same household or family, were living parallel lives and only intersecting briefly at times of crisis or comfort. Around this same time in the early 2000s the power of the Internet reached a point that mobile devices as possessions, personal accessories, status symbols, and functional communication and recording machines made it possible and practical to fulfill the Internet Religious Principle that "information wants to be free" (not owned, controlled, produced by credentialed experts or specialists). Sadly, the related Principle that Google promotes in its company, "Do No Evil," has been less widely embraced. One of the results of making it easy to find information, easy to add your own information, and easy to create fraud is that the price of expertise sometimes dissolves with the touch of a search button. People self-diagnose health complications, sometimes with success and many other times with failure.

There is a belief that information carefully won and organized can be made flat; that hierarchies can be dispensed with; that with enough bandwidth and processor power the entire known haystack can be searched to find the proverbial needle. While that is magical when it works and the electrical supply is uninterrupted, there is a side-effect of eliminating the structures, sequences, priorities, and principles that ruled expertise pre-Internet. By obliterating distinctions and treating all information and the data it rests upon as equal in value, a false sense of confidence (hubris, perhaps) is spreading, and a feeling that nothing matters; everything is the same importance. A society without boundaries may be liberating, but it also is uprooting. Even facts can be dispensed with since every standpoint is relativistic. Anything that is good and lasting in value can freely float to the surface; but so can wretchedness.

So as the already self-reliant, independent, self-referential lives have spread, this Internet capacity for removing boundaries and hierarchies has amplified the unrooted feelings among increasingly contingent, economically unstable livelihoods of so many people in rural and urban USA. In reaction to this observation or vaguely anxious feeling a few organizers and many donors have responded year by year, offering a chance to begin relationships with others in the community known by face but not by voice or name.

Curating your local history - why does the past call us?

local history museum & marker (state historical commission), 48879

This brick house covered in brick-red paint served the health needs of the people in St. Johns, Michigan with three successive medical practices: Drs. Paine, Gillam, and then Scott. Click the photo for full-size view and legible bronze marker text.

This photo prompts the question of what kind of people recognize value, curiosity, or merit in knowing the past and communicating it to others; or more generally of all the currently living residents, what place does the (local) past occupy in their minds, their self-image, and the plans they make in reference to those earlier generations of residents in the area? For a point of comparison there are parts of the world where relatively little changed in status and possessions and aspirations or imagination from one generation to the next. So the separation of past and present and future was not very clear or necessary. And even when the pace of changes goes faster and one generation's experiences and life chances differ to their parents and grandparents, as well contrasting the generations that follow, then the significance of the past-present relationship might not necessarily be emphasized much. After all, in a land with long history and identities adopted from one's family line rather than of one's single-handed, self-making, then the past serves as a kind of unearned, accumulated cultural capital; something that is background like sunlight or air, available to all and abundant in supply with little need to articulate, package, or label. It just "is."

But in an immigrant country it is your achievements that stand for who you are; not your surname, your original property base, or "your people." So in this county seat in mid-Michigan that dates its establishment to 1856, there were settlers from many places to the east and sometimes across the ocean. Neighbors probably did not know your family history or ethnic achievements, so only the fruits of your working and your appearances could identify you in the eyes of peers and even for your own self-image. When there are relatively few generations, and there are relatively many technological changes and world events that punctuate the 150 timeline, then curating a story about the past takes on meaning to some segments of the population, especially for the mainly retired people volunteering at the museum and the ones bringing donations of artifacts, documents, images, and oral histories. In one's elder years, reflecting on the world and one's lifetime is a natural preoccupation; wondering if one has made a positive difference in others' lives and the local landscape. And so, while it is only a fraction of the overall residents in the area who take interest in participating, visiting the museum, or hunting for clues and answers to the past, for these people at least, the local past is vivid and rich with connections to the present and one's own self.

collage from 2016 annual Mint Festival, middle Michigan weekend

The second full weekend in August has been the date for the St. Johns, Michigan MINT FESTIVAL since 1985, itself the resurrection of an event in the 1930s to attract the motoring public on the new system of roads and to spotlight the work of area farmers who leveraged the peculiarly fine particles and rich soil suited to growing and processing mint to produce a prodigious percentage of the country's supply of mint oil used in food, drinks, and medicines. This set of photos from 2016 features the highlights of the 10 a.m. parade that begins at Oakview South elementary school and winds its way to main street of downtown St. Johns, the county seat for Clinton County. [source, http://sjindy.com for August 20, 2016]

There are a few photos, also, of members of the high school graduating class of 1966, who were holding their 50th reunion; that is, 2016 marks 50 years since they finished secondary education at age 18. Other events not pictured that form part of the weekend include the music and dance at a couple of venues on the grounds of the City Park, the many private households that alone or with others prepare tables of used clothing, recreation, hobby, and household goods for sale, called variously "yard sale," "garage sale," "porch sale" or "rummage sale." Then what many consider to be the main event, there are scores of crafters, artists, and merchants that rent a space along the shaded City Park to cater to visitors buying souvenirs, snacks, or presents. With so many people in town, other things are scheduled for this same weekend: sports tournaments (kickball, tennis, road race for runner), for instance. Area churches and civic organizations set up food booths to help in their fund-raising efforts, too.

collage from 2016 annual Mint Festival, middle Michigan weekend

The second full weekend in August has been the date for the St. Johns, Michigan MINT FESTIVAL since 1985, itself the resurrection of an event in the 1930s to attract the motoring public on the new system of roads and to spotlight the work of area farmers who leveraged the peculiarly fine particles and rich soil suited to growing and processing mint to produce a prodigious percentage of the country's supply of mint oil used in food, drinks, and medicines. This set of photos from 2016 features the highlights of the 10 a.m. parade that begins at Oakview South elementary school and winds its way to main street of downtown St. Johns, the county seat for Clinton County. [source, http://sjindy.com for August 20, 2016]

There are a few photos, also, of members of the high school graduating class of 1966, who were holding their 50th reunion; that is, 2016 marks 50 years since they finished secondary education at age 18. Other events not pictured that form part of the weekend include the music and dance at a couple of venues on the grounds of the City Park, the many private households that alone or with others prepare tables of used clothing, recreation, hobby, and household goods for sale, called variously "yard sale," "garage sale," "porch sale" or "rummage sale." Then what many consider to be the main event, there are scores of crafters, artists, and merchants that rent a space along the shaded City Park to cater to visitors buying souvenirs, snacks, or presents. With so many people in town, other things are scheduled for this same weekend: sports tournaments (kickball, tennis, road race for runner), for instance. Area churches and civic organizations set up food booths to help in their fund-raising efforts, too.

What makes anthropology what it is?

veterans' monument, north end of Main Stree, downtown St. Johns, MI 48879

Context of time, place, and within the spectrum of the human condition (relationship to other varieties of culture and language and environment and ideology and material culture).

Text for the master narratives known among the speakers (and/or readers) of a particular language.

Texture that gives shape, feel, rhythms and patterns to daily experience.

And while there are many other social science and humanities traditions now and those found in other places/languages and time, it is anthropology that engages most personally; personal scale of individual lives, and by means of participant-observation, rather than to pretend any sort of pure abstraction or analytical distance from the subjects. Much of the most valuable work is conducted in the field and for extended, even longitudinal periods, during which many relationships are formed that work in both directions: of use and satisfaction (or distress) to the anthropologist, but also a living part of the local people's knowledge and resource pool of social capital to make use of. In the best examples a dialog results with voice of insider and outsider both present in the final form.

What makes anthropology what it is?

veterans' monument, north end of Main Stree, downtown St. Johns, MI 48879

Context of time, place, and within the spectrum of the human condition (relationship to other varieties of culture and language and environment and ideology and material culture).

Text for the master narratives known among the speakers (and/or readers) of a particular language.

Texture that gives shape, feel, rhythms and patterns to daily experience.

And while there are many other social science and humanities traditions now and those found in other places/languages and time, it is anthropology that engages most personally; personal scale of individual lives, and by means of participant-observation, rather than to pretend any sort of pure abstraction or analytical distance from the subjects. Much of the most valuable work is conducted in the field and for extended, even longitudinal periods, during which many relationships are formed that work in both directions: of use and satisfaction (or distress) to the anthropologist, but also a living part of the local people's knowledge and resource pool of social capital to make use of. In the best examples a dialog results with voice of insider and outsider both present in the final form.

Profusion of twilight cellphone zombie walkers - cell phone game, "PokeMon GO"

trawling the sidwalks to catch Pokemon shown on the mobile phone screen

About a week ago the national radio carried a story of people congregating at odd places and times around San Francisco in pursuit of particular creatures to add to their own phone's collection of PocketMonsters, poke-mon. Thanks to the wonder of electronic (download) distribution of the game, now for a few days I have noticed individuals, pairs or a handful of (mostly school-age) people strolling up and down the mainstreet sidewalks, parks and other locations with cell phone held in front and occasional glances down to detect desireable Pokemon triggered by the phone's GPS location reported.


This video clip shows a few people trawling for the imaginary menagerie at the downtown park where the former train depot was located. https://goo.gl/photos/Suii4VazRyYoyFs59

Some came on skateboards, others on bicycle, car or on foot. Altogether there were maybe 15-20 young people between the ages of 11 and 20 gathered in the fading light of the Thursday night, around 9 p.m., July 21.

Another gas station to feed your car's appetite for fossil fuel

Like some Jurassic dinosaur, the yellow arm of the excavator digs down into the property adjacent to the Kroger grocery store that recently was purchased in order to build a store-branded fuel station to give food shoppers an incentive also to buy their fuel under the same brand name. The height and visual bulk of the machine is maybe the size of a T-Rex and puts the surrounding cars into relative scale, as well as the person in the background.

14 years old - The award ceremony to conclude Middle School, 8th grade

Middle School awards assembly for the 8th grade, the future high school graduating class of 2020

overview, click for full size image (2-frames, stitched panorama)

On the final days of the school year in June, parents and friends are invited to an awards ceremony. At the middle school the 6th and 7th graders meet separately, one after the other, during the school day. But for the oldest students, the event takes place after the workday for most families, starting at 6 p.m. It runs about 90 minutes.

     The program bulletin with spot color on double-sided, single sheet in 7 pitch font size included sets of recipients who paraded onto the stage expeditiously to collect handshake and word of encouragement, plus certificate or other token. Groupings included a locally conceived program called LINKS for peer to peer support, particularly to match confident kids with ones discouraged by academic, social, emotional or other difficulties (73 names, mainly girls).

Next was the Perfect Attendance Awards (missing just 3 hours of the entire scheduled school year (13 names), with one of these asterisked to indicate perfect attendance during all 3 years of middle school. Third came recognition for 8th graders who served as student councilors (6 names). Next were 7 kids who met under the auspices of the local chapter of Kiwanis Club #707 in order to plan and carry out good works in Builders Club. Three students were selected by staff and teachers for special mention in making the school run well, being helpful to teachers, staff, and peers. The academic excellence awards recognize the 47 students who averaged 3.85 during their 3 school years at the middle school. The Foundation for Excellence T-shirts were reserved for the 17 kids whose cumulative GPA for the 3 years was 4.0 (thanks to bonus points; extra credit, and so on). There were 27 kids recognized for doing well in both 2 of 3 sports seasons this past year, and maintaining 3.0 GPA (and being nominated by their coach, too).

Then there was a prize for fundraising prowess (selling magazine subscriptions to family, friends, co-workers brings a partial rebate to the school for its expenses). High sellers were promised either 1000 of tuition at colleges and universities found on a list, or for the very highest sellers the promise was for 2500 toward tuition. The final award was for one boy and one girl at the discretion of the principal, from among nominations made by teaches and staff.

 

Refreshments (cookies and punch) followed after this first hour of clapping and extolling excellence, to be followed by recap photo story of the past 7 months at the school, projected on the big screen in the cafetorium (cafeteria + auditorium: doubles as stage area).

The motto for the school, staff, teachers and students, found printed on the back side of the program page, reads "Working as a team to build the future!" So the sense of direction is what is to come, but depends on the constructive efforts of today, and not a solo effort, but one that joins many hands. The metaphor of construction project can be extended by comparing the durability, safety, and stylish and high functioning results for well planned and well built work, by contrast to the performance coming from shoddy work, lack of craftsmanship, and ill thought through plans. Excelling in one's work and the fruits of those labors can take many forms, particularly among middle school students, where their bodies grow bigger, take on new shape, and identities are tried on within one's reference group and pool of expectations in a given family, community, or school culture. Dream suddenly spring into mind, are inspired by others, or may be sparked by learning experiences of reading, observing, discussing, or completing certain assignments.

     The minds and hearts of these young people often are open, impressionable, and inquisitive. Much like the way a blueprint comes to life at the earliest stages by staking the land and hanging string to mark elements to be placed or built, levels to be straightened, and so forth, so too for young learners - they build their own ambitions, boundaries and self-definition first from gossamer strands which are easily stretched, tried, changed, or torn asunder. A kind word, and encouraging response, and welcome smile all can move the creation of self from the fragile threads to something quickly to grow solid and increasingly well defined; something which others can see, react to, and thus affect the builder's next steps.