Everyday Life in Middletown
Directive: January-February 2019
Muncie
Directions: This directive asks you to share your thoughts and feelings about Muncie, the town most of you live in and the town at the center of the Everyday Life in Middletown project.
Feel free to use your creativity in expressing your thoughts and feelings about Muncie. You can write this out as an essay or a set of disjointed observations, or any other way you like. You do not need to answer the questions below in order (though you may do so if you wish). But do try to address all of the questions, in one way or another, in your response.
The main question we want you to address is: What do you think and feel about Muncie?
Write as little or as much as you like. A good guideline for length would be the average length of your day diaries for us.
As with your diaries, your directive entries will be published anonymously in our on-line archive. While we will not publish your name or any personal information, it is up to you to decide how much or how little about yourself you want to reveal in your writing and to filter out personal information accordingly. As with the diaries, we will review your directives for personal information and contact you if we have questions or concerns.
Optional: Take a photograph that you think typifies Muncie in some way, and send it along with your directive response.
Please return your answer to us by Feb. 12.
Questions to address in your answer:
- How long have you lived here? If you were not born here, indicate where you came from and why.
I was born in Muncie and have lived here for about 35 of my 46 years.
- Are you happy with where you live? Do you feel like you belong?
I have always felt like I belonged in my community and neighborhoods. Of course, I’m hardly an outsider. To contrast, I have lived in other places where I was considered “different,” not racially– but spiritually, socially, economically.
- Do you expect to stay here for long? What are or will be some of the considerations in deciding how long you stay here?
I tell people that I have “escaped” Muncie twice—for college (nothing against BSU; I had grown up near campus and it was all I knew, and the opportunity to “go away” to college was seen as a near-birthright) and as a young adult. I’ve returned both times, for family reasons. This hitch has been the happiest, but I wouldn’t be surprised if I try it again someday. My parents are the only family I have locally. Now that my mother is by herself, I don’t see myself going someplace else anytime soon. I’m not sure where my children will settle as they leave home, so that could be a factor as well.
- How would you describe Muncie to someone who has never been here? What are its most distinctive characteristics?
I’ve never bought into the notion that Muncie is “special,” or particularly unique. The Lynds came here because it was “typical,” after all. If Muncie has any unique quality or character, I would say it’s quirkiness. I have also described Muncie numerous times as more friendly and accessible to newcomers than other places. It has also been good to my family, and been a good place to raise my children, for the most part.
- Do you think the ways other people think about Muncie are the same ways you think about it? How do you your thoughts and feelings about Muncie differ from its public image (from media or word-of-mouth around the state and beyond)?
I tell people that I have a love-hate relationship with Muncie. I’m harder on the city than some others I know because I’m from here and know its warts and scars, and I’m more sensitive to it when I see those old wounds re-surfacing. I also understand I grew up with a rosier view of Muncie than others—I can still remember when the city was prosperous and growing, and I’m also white, grew up upper-middle and management-class, and if I wanted to do virtually anything, I could travel outside the city to get it. In my career (community outreach) it has become more apparent to me than before that there are a lot of others whose worldview was limited to that of a few miles from their home, school or workplace. I also think Muncie has presented a different reality for those folks. In my job, I’m lucky I get to help give back to the city in that way. I think the city and community as a whole has made real progress in the last 10 years in reinventing that public perception a bit.
- What are your feelings about Muncie’s future? What are your
hopes for Muncie? How do you expect Muncie will fare in the years ahead? What changes do you expect? As said above, I think Muncie has made some strides, and I feel Muncie is making progress, or “trying,” as a bumper sticker a few years ago put it. My hope is that it will eventually make the leap into a college-focused, professional and service-oriented community, with a healthier blue-collar base. I’d like to finally see all the “town vs. gown” tensions ease… it’s hard to say at this point how Muncie will end up, and will I be here or alive to see the changes?