Is Boone Ready?
Is Boone a conducive environment for working towards radical community sustainability?
Have I been seeing Boone for what it is, or what I want it to be?
All these questions and more came up during a conversation with a friend the other night. Yes, organizations here fail because of a lack of community, but is it really possible to forge a community in a place where at least half the population is transient, and that segment of the population is mandated to grow by the North Carolina state government?
ASU, the source of the transient population, has the town at its mercy by the decree of the state. They don’t want or need to cooperate with the town that has to put up with tailgaters, house parties and impossible parking. It follows that if a group working towards community sustainability, in spite of rather than with the help of ASU, really wanted to work towards creating a balance of power and a mutually beneficial relationship between ASU and the Town of Boone, they would have to go up against the state of North Carolina, not just Boone officials.
Boone is a college town, and it seems that it will only be more so in the future.
Once I let go of the absolute moral and ethical correctness of staying in Boone no matter what, all of a sudden my horizons exploded with shimmery light and soaring eagles… I can go anywhere… and not feel guilty for leaving Boone behind! I finally understood why so many people leave Boone for “bigger” places with “more opportunity”… it’s because there are bigger places with more opportunity. Lots of them. Places where the kinds of radical community sustainability projects I want to pursue are actually a viable possibility, and may actually already be going on. There are radical community collectives all over this country making beautifully liberating, lasting change in their communities.
Don’t get me wrong; I love Boone. I have never been in any other place where you can go to the town council meeting and talk to your representatives and actually be heard, and not only heard but listened to. There are many opportunities for community organizing in Boone that would be impossible in most other places. The overall mentality of the town is surprisingly progressive, and the abundance of natural resources make Boone perfect for agricultural and food independence projects.
Bit is this the place for projects sincerely dedicated to radical community sustainability?
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I don't think that boone is necessarily conducive for working towards radical community sustainability. with that said, i think that it absolutely can, and must, be done. perhaps it is more important to work towards community sustainability and fully learn from the struggle to unite a fractured society against all odds than to 'plug in' to an accomplished, well-functioning radical community elsewhere...? This is also what I have been struggling with. Because half of Boone is transient, much of the radical organizing needs to stem from a community base, not separate from, but not originating from, the school and its students. Most students are too busy, and detached from the needs of the larger community to fully understand or immerse themselves in the issues that the rest of the town of boone faces. Trying to organize mostly students for a community-changing project is more than daunting. No wonder we are facing problems. I don't want to make this an us-them issue, as if the campus and the larger community are seperate entities. but they are very fractured. this is, in the long run, about both- but the locals are being eaten by the college. and the locals, in a sense, are up against the state. but thats what so much of this is, everywhere, isn't it? if a town like boone can create radical community sustainability, it can be done ALL OVER. what could we learn from this struggle? how can we adapt against all odds? how DO little broken communities unite and organize? we have some big decisions that face us, but are we the ones to take them on? how do we decide if this is our battle, or if ours is in the next town over? so then it comes down to our personal connections with a place, and its people. i have more connections with the students, so my connection with boone feels transient. if other connections form outside of campus, boone would become more attractive to me as a place to get something going. are our hearts here in boone, and if so, where in boone? I have not yet decided whether or not I want to stay here. I desire many of the things that a larger city, not just a college town, brings. So for me, the desire to stay in Boone and the likelihood of creating radical community sustainability in boone are related but distinct issues. If i could love the town of boone as a long-term home, then I would stay. Because, in all honesty, I do think that change can be made here. And the students will follow, with opportunites for the transients to learn and plug in to a thriving, sustainable community. At least, that is what I hope for boone...but i can be a touch of an optimist. :)
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