cktimes.ca Archives for Cultural Musings on Chatham-Kent
Cultural Musings on Chatham-Kent
Restoration of the community should be prime goal in 2003
Tuesday, December 31, 2002
There is one resolution that I'd like you to make and actually keep for 2003 and it involves "bowling"! That's right! I said "bowling". However, it is not bowling in the actual sense but more the metaphorical significance of the activity that is the important aspect.All I want you to do is read one book this year. If you do nothing else vaguely related to arts, culture and heritage this year, read Robert D. Putnam's bestseller entitled BOWLING ALONE.
In this well-researched, literate and insightful book Putnam describes the collapse of the modern community and how we can revive that sense of community. His theory is that the bonds of community have withered in the twentieth century and it is absolutely crucial that we begin to reweave the fabric of our communities. For example, there are, throughout North America, fewer and fewer people bowling in leagues and, therefore, we have to bowl alone. Hence, the name of the book.
According to Putnam, we spend too much time watching television, in front of the computer, or generally wrapped up in our own personal, private pursuits and, as a result, we have abandoned the one thing that we all crave – an active connection with our fellow citizens. "Private pleasures", as he describes them, are very tempting but fail to bring about real satisfaction, well being and a sense of ownership.
One of the most important ways to revive the sense of community, according to Putnam, is through the advocacy of arts, heritage and culture within communities in traditional, as well as new, ways. He wants us to spend less leisure time sitting passively in front of glowing screens and more time in actual connection with fellow citizens. Arts, heritage and culture should inspire people within the community to actually participate in, rather than merely "consuming" or "appreciating". Arts, heritage and culture, he maintains, are perfect vehicles for bringing together diverse groups within the community to achieve common ends and create bridges for a shared community experiences.
He provides the example of the Roadside Theatre Company that has brought together a whole range of citizens from very diverse backgrounds in declining towns in Appalachia to celebrate their traditions and restore community confidence through the dramatization of local stories and the celebration of nearly forgotten regional crafts, music and art
You will recall that, in past columns, I have strongly advocated the creation of a two-week Chatham-Kent Arts Festival in order to bring together the various arts, heritage and culture groups within our rather diverse, extended community. Not only would Putnam endorse this type of activity but would also applaud the various approaches that fellow CK TIMES columnist, Glen Turner, has used to get the larger community (young and old) involved in some aspect of performance drama.
In addition, Mike McDonalds's idea of taking a local story ( the mysterious murder of a local hairdresser) or character ( the boxer Arthur Pelkey) and creating plays around them using local actors, is a perfect realization of Putnam's idea.
Putnam further advocates new forms of electronic entertainment and communication that reinforce community engagement rather than forestalling it. We must must foster and encourage those activities that draw the viewer off of the couch and into his community to make him or her a vital, contributing part of that community.
In a very real sense, that is exactly what John Gardiner has done with his innovative creation of CK TIMES! He has encouraged, inspired and, often times, cajoled local citizens into becoming involved with their community by writing about the many diverse aspects that comprise our community. He has allowed, and in fact, encouraged them to write with passion, creativity, freedom and humour.
Putnam emphatically declares in BOWLING ALONE that "....no sector of society will have more influence on the future state of our social capital than the electronic mass media and especially the Internet. If we are to reverse the adverse trends of the last three decades in any fundamental way, the electronic entertainment and telecommunication industry must become a big part of the solution instead of a big part of the problem."
At the heart of every piece of writing done by every CK TIMES writer is a fundamental love of the community, a desire to communicate with others, within that community, in new and innovative ways and the fundamental belief that the more we interact, as a community, the better we will be as a community. I think John Gardner's CK TIMES is a perfect example of using Internet technology to reinforce rather than supplant place-based, face-to-face, enduring social networks within Chatham-Kent.
The need to restore our sense of community and to get people out of their homes, away from their televisions and computers, and to care about something larger than themselves may very well be the great challenge of the new millennium. In Chatham-Kent, while we may not have made giant strides in the restoration of "bowling together", there are certainly key aspects of the local arts, heritage, culture and communication segments that are on the right track.
Hopefully, 2003 will see even more movement in that community-oriented direction and, as a start this New Years, read Robert Putnam's BOWLING ALONE.
Jim and Lisa Gilbert are local, national and international award winning educators and historians.
