We Are Culture
The Young and (Un)Professional in a Rural Community
By Kate Downen, 5-29-06
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You're sitting in traffic, staring at neon, remembering when your city used to be so much quainter and quieter. Or maybe your town is dying. Your aging population is shrinking by the second and you're losing your young and educated to more exciting places. Friedman's Flat World? Florida's Creative Class? Karlgaard's "Where of Happiness?" All of the buzzed-up pop culture references apply, no matter your growth-related dilemma.
In the Flathead Valley, we're hoping this new, Flat World will enable us to be the Where of Happiness for the much-coveted Creative Class. We're one of those aging populations. We're one of those changing economies, trying to find its niche. My friends in cities take this kind of stuff for granted. They live among the Creative Class; they are the Creative Class. And so are we.
Here in our lonesome crowded West, the Creative Class may just be a bit harder to find and define.
400 people packed the Kalispell West Coast Hotel last Thursday to find out what all the Creative Class hype is all about. Employees, employers, public leaders, young professionals and curious folk alike showed up from noon to 2:30 to hear Rebecca Ryan of Next Generation Consulting fill us in on what the Flathead Valley needs to do to keep and attract the Creative Class. Rebecca talked generational differences. She talked employers and employees-- what do young people want in a job and a place to live? What can employers, towns and cities do to fulfill those wants? Rebecca also talked about YPs (Young Professionals): what role do they play in communities like ours? How can they make a place healthier, more fun, more dynamic?
Rebecca killed it. She had the wheels turning in all 400 heads. The crowd was entertained and engaged the entire two and a half hours. I think people walked away thinking a bit differently-- more progressively, maybe-- about the Valley and what we can do to make it better.
My friend Joel and I are two of about 20 people who are active in a group called the Flathead Area Young Professionals. Joel sent me an e-mail the morning after Rebecca Ryan spoke; he was even more jacked up than I was. "She was flawless," he wrote (he's a banker). But really, it was less about Rebecca and more about us.
Our whole group was excited. Young people came out of the woodwork, interested in getting involved in what we're doing. What ARE we doing? We're not sure. Getting involved in our community? Getting to know our community? Getting to know each other? Having fun? Going out together? All of those things, I guess.
The Me of four or five years ago would have been much too cool for a group revolving around the "Young Professional" concept. I've become exponentially less cool in the last four or five years, yes-- but I think my 26 year-old excitement about a group like this has more to do with situational things. This isn't college anymore. The Flathead, where I live, is growing but still fairly rural. A lot of people my age are married and happily involved in their own families and working lives. They don't need a lot of new people to hang out with. I'm still itching for new things, new people, new stuff to do, new music, new places to go, new ideas. I know there are people here who are itching for those things too. I know a lot of those people, and I'm looking for more of them.
Portland and Brooklyn we are not. Finding stuff to do-- aside from outdoor things-- can be hard. Meeting people is kind of hard. Being counterculture here is hard (maybe because in places like Portland and Brooklyn, counterculture is mainstream culture). Would I dig hanging out in a city, being into my own things, living a more anonymous, less community-involved life? Sure. Would I look totally sweet with vintage leggings, black hair and a PBR in my hand? Obviously. But I don't see that as an option here (I'm talking about living a less community-involved life, not the black hair/leggings thing).
The stuffy stigma of "Young Professional" is over. This group can be anything we want to make it. It is energy. It is change, the way we want it to happen.
In a smaller community your actions matter more. It's easier to make a difference. I like that. Make your own fun, make your own changes, and get involved-- or shut your mouth if you don't like the way someone else does it.
Young, professional, young professional or young and unprofessional, this is your place. Come on, kids. Let's be culture in the making.
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Comments
jl
She killed it? Huh? Killed what? If I presume this is some euphymism for she did a fine job of something(?), I must say it's a pretty off-target term. What does death have to do with success, in the generic sense?
The President says we're all supposed to be speaking English.
I killed it, stomped it, nailed it, hit it, break a leg, goin' by da bar an' catch one, hey, get r done, Let's Roll, etc. Our world is filled with slang. Why single out this one example of a young person trying to encourage others to get involved and make a difference?
If the Pres. wants everyone to be speaking English, perhaps he should....learn to speak it properly himself. It would be a proper example to set and fit into his....."strategery".
Kate, thanks for your involvement in the Flathead community. I was at the Rebecca Ryan event and agree that she "blew it out of the water" (my expectations were exceeded and the informational content was extremely valuable).
All I'm saying is, the piece (editorial?) was not very coherent. I would LIKE to understand what Kate was trying to say. I mean no offense; just being honest. I'm sure anyone who writes for public consumption, especially when comments are invited, must have some measure of thick skin.
As for slingin' the slang, fair enough. I admitted I may not be hip enough to "get it". My bad, yo. But, like, isn't free speech still, like, for real?
As for the president's English-only....uh, right. That was what we used to call in the old days, tongue-in-cheek.
Sorry if I was a bit brash, Kate. You SHOULD stay involved in your community, and I hope you do. Your community needs all the hopeful, energetic young people like you they can get.
You killed it, Kate..Thanks!
Take "new music" as an example. Where can new bands or out of town bands come to play? Start promoting small concerts, involve bars and clubs, have local radio stations play local music, organize annual events, etc. If there is no outlet or infrastructure, it won't happen. Set up a network so those involved in music (or whatever industry) can tap into it. This is the New West Network, right?
Excuse me. I stumbled onto this blog because I googled "bike flathead valley" and Kate Dowden's name came up which then lead me to reading this blog entry.
If you are looking for new music, I encourage you to visit Minnesota Public Radio The Current. The station is about a year old in the Twin Cities and has really changed the way we look at music. It is listener supported (non-profit) and has opened up the music scene to many more bands. It is also not pressured by record companies to play Top 25 songs, thus the wider range in music.
http://minnesota.publicradio.org/radio/services/the_current/ You can get a live feed and the playlist from that page.
Take care.