I've spent the past couple of days trying in my courses, and most likely failing, to explain the importance of developing a deep, engaged, sense of place. I know I probably come off as some sort of pseudo-mystic, or even worse a new-age mumbo-jumbo faker (if only it was an Ishmael Reed or Funkadelic variant), ... the problem is that you can't really explain the importance of a sense-of-place (OK, you can, and some of my favorite authors do, impart a sense-of-place in a carefully crafted essay or through stunning photographs--but I fail to do it in the time constraints of the average class period), you have to experience place, to know place, to map out your place, in order to develop that sense-of-place!!!
Damn! I failed miserably, but I stumble on, none-the-less, humbled, bruised, and seeking, asking questions, listening, wondering, and hoping...
Luckily there are people who share with us their own sense-of-place... currently Oso in San Diego's North County is struggling to find a way to save the funky coffee-shop Miracle's Cafe in Cardiff from being bulldozed for the erection of just another two-story business complex. Sadly, from this distance, it may be an impossible battle, but still Oso's creates for us an important picture of what his world is like (as do the other contributors on his website)--this is what I'm struggling to say when I state that creativity, imagination, engagement-with-the-world, awareness-of-self(ves), and willingness to speak-out, are vital to democratic community.
Maxine Greene, the great educational theorist and cultural philosopher, on giving a lecture at the tender age of 80 years old, started off by saying:
"I am ... not yet."
What a recognition... stating to her audience, who no doubt admired her work, I am still working it all out and am "not yet" who I will "be." We as individuals are creating ourselves as we live our lives, we as communities and cultures and nations and the World--are creating ourselves as we live our lives, create stories about those lives, and critique those stories--we are continuously re-creating our worlds....
Where are you at and what are you becoming? Where have you come from and where are you going?
Some excellent writings about place/identity/community from Orion magazine (link to the left of this page).
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