People
We Are Culture
The Young and (Un)Professional in a Rural CommunityYou'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.
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Notes From Silicon Valley
The Karma of Creativity, Diversity and Youth in Your CommunityI returned a couple of days ago from a technology conference in San Jose, California. The 'silicon' element of Silicon Valley is now pretty much obsolete, but the area’s been through a boom, a bust and at least four or five economic and technological rejuvenations and reinventions that have kept it more than alive and kicking. Silicon Valley houses software and technology companies galore, along with its Bioscience Incubator and Innovation Center that will undoubtedly be a driver of future prosperity. Cisco, eBay, Adobe and Hitachi are just a few of the companies that call Silicon Valley home, but the big names and dollar signs pale in comparison to the creativity and innovation that built those companies. [more]
Have we forgotten the oldest westerners?
Missing Persons in the New WestWith all the fascinating stories and commentary we read on NewWest, it strikes me that there is one perspective we rarely get. In fact, with the exception of the story a couple weeks ago about the Apache Indians demanding the return of Geronimo’s skull (if it can be proven that the Skull and Bones Club at Yale has it) we rarely read anything in these pages about the Oldest West – the Native Americans. It’s almost as though the dire predictions of George Catlin and Karl Bodmer have come true.
Bodmer and Catlin were artists who traveled throughout the West in the nineteenth century and specialized in painting the faces, lives and costumes of the Indians they encountered. Both men – and many of their contemporaries – believed that Native American cultures would soon become extinct. Catlin considered his art a memorial to native peoples.
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How Growth Hurts
Valuing Human Capital in the Midst of a Hiring and Housing CrisisAsk just about any employer in the Flathead and you’ll get the same story: hiring and retaining employees is a nightmare. Unemployment rates are lower than ever, open jobs at the Flathead County Job Service are over 600 (compared to 300 at this time last year), construction continues to boom and housing costs are sky high. These issues are defining business in the Valley as development unyieldingly marches on and able workers seem to be more and more scarce. [more]
New Westerner
North Valley Organics Keeps Bounty Close to HomeBy Ben Ikenson
Come final harvest, when the autumn crisp is punctuated by the sharp scent of roasting green chili, 52-year-old Minor Morgan can take a breather from working two concurrent fulltime jobs. Six years ago, the state social worker bought an acre-and-a-half of vacant land behind his home adjacent to one of the many narrow acequias (irrigation ditches) that crisscross Albuquerque’s North Valley. That patch of land is now the epicenter of North Valley Organics, producing a variety of tomatoes, peas, beans, cucumbers, melons, and gourds.
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Boulder Renters Seek Pot-Smoking Roommates
Boulder Still A Bastion of Hippies and Radicals, Apparently
Many Boulderites who have lived in this town for decades have noted its evolution from a sleepy little college town full of pot-smoking hippies and political radicals into what it is today: More of a haven for wealthy coastal transpants to reside in million dollar homes in a charming and beautiful setting. But in the eyes of the national media, Boulder is still the place to turn to when a journalist is writing an article that includes those pot-smoking hippies and radicals. This weekend alone, there were two prominent examples of this phenomenon. First, in the New York Times Sunday edition, Stephanie Rosenbloom wrote about the amusing specificity to be found in Craig's List roommate-wanted ads (The Nitpicking Nation). She cited requests for female roommates instead of males, quiet, professional types, and non-smokers. But she went on to note:
"But while cigarettes are a deal breaker for some, a number of Craigslist users across the country (Denver and Boulder, Colo.; San Francisco; Boston; and Portland, Ore., to name but a few) say that they are '420 friendly,' slang for marijuana use. References to 420 were nonexistent in other cities, including Little Rock, Ark.; Santa Fe, N.M.; and Boise, Idaho." Who knew Santa Fe was so square?
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Readers Digest Condensed States
Central Washington: Who Needs It?Are we there yet? Are we there yet, now? When will we be there? What time is it? What time is it now? Why does time move so slowly? We've been in the car forever!
Welcome to Central Washington. Whatever it is, it ain't Twin Peaks. That might be good; that might be bad, but at least Twin Peaks was never dull.
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Hometown Drunk Makes Good
Denver Author Joins “Fratire” Pack with Modern Drunkard Book
A recent New York Times feature detailed the rise of "fratire" ("Dude, Here's My Book") and included one Denver author, Frank Kelly Rich, among the notables of this rising genre. Just what is fratire? Times journalist Warren St. John offered this explanation:
"With titles like 'Real Ultimate Power,' a satirical ode to the masculine prowess of ninjas; 'The Modern Drunkard,' a paean to getting hammered; and 'The Game,' a manual for manipulating and bedding women, they collectively represent the once-elusive male counterpart to so-called chick lit, and so perhaps deserve a cheesy epithet of their own. How about: fratire."
Frank Kelly Rich is the founder and publisher of the Denver-based magazine Modern Drunkard, which celebrates all aspects of the drinking life. According to an earlier Times article, Rich moved to Denver because he said, "I thought it was a great drinking town."
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Uncommon In-Flight Kindness
Nice Employees Make Air Travel, Well, NiceFlying is no fun. It's a gamble. And if you're flying out of Montana, there's a good chance you'll be on one of those tiny little planes, the ones where your carry-ons don't carry on, the ones where, if you've got a window seat, your neck's at a 20 degree "I may look inquisitive, but I'm actually doing this to avoid the ceiling" angle. Yesterday on the way out of Kalispell, I flew on a cousin of one of those tiny planes, a slightly bigger, propellerless version. [more]
A Gay Time for Business
GLBT Business Association Forms in AlbuquerqueNo one seems to know for sure what the economic impact is of the gay/lesbian spender, but we often hear that GLBT (gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgender) families have lots of disposable income, that gays and lesbians spend tons of money on travel, real estate and anything hip and new. And more than once, the “gays” have been credited for taking decrepit neighborhoods in metropolitan locals and turning them into meccas.
I suppose some of that must be true, especially when companies like Subaru, Orbitz.com, and American Airlines spend millions to get the big gay dollars. Another thing GLBT folks do with their money is business. They own their own companies, hold high-ranking positions in other organizations and act as professional leaders in the business world as a whole.
That being the case, it may not surprise you to learn that New Mexico now has its own GLBT business association in SOPA, the Sandia Out Professional Alliance. I suppose some might call it a gay and lesbian chamber of commerce, which kinda makes sense seeing that SOPA plans to become an affiliate of the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce, an advocate group for GLBT businesses, based in Washington, DC.
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