Today on the Everyday Life in Middletown blog, we begin a four-part series in which our volunteer writers share their thoughts and feelings about Muncie. Twenty-two of our volunteers answered our directive, which also asked people to describe their history with the city, their sense of Muncie’s reputation, and their thoughts about its future. As you will see, their answers varied dramatically while circling around a set of shared issues stemming from Muncie’s status as a once-industrial town trying to reimagine itself.
First up is a writer we’re calling The Cheerleader. By her admission, she represents a circle of civically active Muncie residents (“cheerleaders and hand-raisers”) who are upbeat about the future and working hard to make the city a better place. Though she is a transplant, having followed her college boyfriend (now her husband) here, she has embraced the city wholeheartedly, down to collecting historic Muncie memorabilia. Her responses to our directive acknowledge Muncie’s problems but have scant patience with the town’s nay-sayers (“detractors, de-railers, trolls … armchair activists or complainers.”)
We will see some widely differing views, including some negative ones, in future weeks, when we hear from the Reluctant Transplant, the Neutral Mind, and the Country Dweller. For this week we accentuate the positive.
Enjoy, and feel free to share your responses using the “comments” box below.
–Patrick Collier
How long have you lived here? If you were not born here, indicate where you came from and why.
If you start moving south and keep going until the land bunches up and then flattens out again, where the expanse of corn and soy begins to swallow you up…that exact spot…that’s where I’m from. In the late 1970s, it seemed everyone in town had a specific t-shirt. Yellow with light blue lettering, it proclaimed: “Washington, Indiana is my hometown and I’m proud of it”. It left an indelible impression on my seven year old heart and mind, and back then it felt like we were defending our place in the world. I couldn’t tell you what the political or economic struggle we may have been facing as a community back then. Whatever the inspiration for the shirt, real or imagined, these words, in the straight-forward manner of small town Indiana, was powerful. It felt like a call to action. It symbolized the underdog coming out swinging, civic pride during a time of adversity, holding on in the tough times.
I came to Muncie simply because a boy asked me. I met him at college and when he transferred to Ball State, it wasn’t hard to talk me into coming along with him. I packed up and moved to a place I’d never laid eyes upon. It was a leap of faith from a very small pond to a very large one. The first several years here were a struggle. I didn’t love it or hate it. I think that I was too busy surviving to bother with feeling anything particular one way or the other. Happily, fortune changed, and a long with it grew a true love for this place called Muncie. I married the boy. We stayed on long after school ended and I adopted Muncie as my second hometown. Perhaps it is the length of time I have lived here, and the fact that this is now my own son’s true hometown that has given me such a fondness for this place. Now, 23 years later, the transplanted roots have grown deep and the pond seems to have gotten smaller. I don’t plan on leaving. I don’t think I could…the friends I’ve made, the way I feel invested, valued, and a real part of this community…it keeps me tethered.
Are you happy with where you live? Do you feel like you belong?
As I have grown to love Muncie, so has my appreciation for her history. I live in the original Munceetown. I enjoy learning about and collecting bits of it. I have a collection of antique Muncie memorabilia. My favorite items are the souvenirs that say “Muncie, the Magic City”. These are from her gas boom days. The Magic City moniker came from the impression that out of nowhere the large City of Muncie seemingly sprang to life overnight. Muncie still has a kind of magic for me. A threadbare, found-it-covered-in-dust-up-in-the-attic fascinating sort of magic. A well-spring of untapped (or forgotten at the least) potential that, unlike the gas boom, won’t burn out despite what may come to pass. She’s been mistreated and down on her luck, but I always root for the underdog. “Muncie, Indiana is my adopted hometown and I’m proud of it”, I suppose I could say now.
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)?
Do my attitudes about our city align with that of others? Yes and no. There is a whole cohort of cheerleaders and hand raisers out there and I would count myself among them. Perhaps its easy to be positive and to foster a love for Muncie when you are surrounded by those like-minded. And perhaps it rings even more true if you experience it in firsts and not in seconds (I have no reference points other than the last 20 or so years, as opposed to those who have been here much longer) and when you feel you are a part of the community. These are the people in my community that I surround myself with, that I see at events, that are making things happen. They are the lifeblood of this city and they are from all walks of life and from all across town.
Sure, Muncie has her share of detractors, de-railers, trolls and naysayers, too. Many of them, in my experience, are natives and former residents who see fit to insult Muncie as it is today and unfairly compare her to the Muncie they knew 50 years ago, etc. Many have not laid eyes on or set foot in this city for years. They used to incite me, but I pay them no mind anymore. The fact that they are spending their time poking around to see what’s happening here is more telling about them and how interesting their current place of residence is than a true reflection of Muncie. And for those who live here and have nothing nice to say, I challenge them to get up, get involved or get out, rather than just be armchair activists or complainers. Our local newspaper has not helped our reputation and fed this negativity by selling their soul for a few cheap “clicks”. Historically, Muncie has always enjoyed a sort of notoriety and that’s hard to shake. It can be weird and wonderful all at the same time….especially my little corner of it.
Again, I’m with the cheerleaders. There is plenty of work to be done…that IS being done…we’ve come a long way, and have a long way to go, but things are happening!
There is a copy of a very old photo in my office. It’s of a sign that once hung somewhere along the railroad tracks in Muncie. In fantastic (or what must have been at the time) electric lights is emblazoned the statement “Muncie Offers More”. Just like that yellow tee shirt from my hometown. It is straightforward, promising, powerful and all-you-need-to-know.
How would you describe Muncie to someone who has never been here? What are its most distinctive characteristics?
If I had to describe Muncie to someone who had never been here, I would be hard pressed to know where to start. I could talk about the giving spirit of our residents, the way our neighbors come together to help each other, the rich history, the points of pride, of being a rust belt near-casualty and the struggle as find our new identity …so many things. But what I think of when I envision my community is more like snapshots. It’s through my son’s eyes….the excitement as we trek through the snow at McCollough Park to sled down Derby Hill (like so many generations before). It’s the debate of whether its “McCollough” or “McCulloch”, in the first place. It’s hot chocolate and snowball fights while they light the tree at Cannan Commons. It’s the first cannonball of the year into Tuhey Pool or the first trip to Hunnicut’s for ice cream. Labor Day on the Resevoir. Trick or treating among the elaborately decorated grand houses of East Washington Street. The secrets of Minnetrista’s gardens. Knowing how to order your breadsticks at Pizza King. The Easter bunny riding in on the fire truck at Heekin Park. Riding bikes on the Greenway. I could go on and on.
Muncie does offer more and it’s our obligation to do what we can to bolster Muncie, to be proud of what it offers. We will leave it better than we found it. If every generation of Munsonians can carry that forward, imagine what the future may hold.
Since reading this directive a few weeks ago my eyes have been open to see artifacts of hometown boosterism. I’ve smiled to walk through antique stores and see relics of another year, another place etched in glass, printed on card stock, sewn onto cloth. In ways various and sundry do we human beings lay claim to home and foster (or monetize) hometown pride.
I applaud the author for delving into Muncie history. My own experience teaches me that learning the history and heritage of a place is a shortcut to seeing and appreciating the everyday in new and compelling ways. It enhances both understanding and appreciation, allows one to be more adept in ways one moves through the chosen world.
Unabashed boosterism is surely a choice, just as much as sour grapes grousing. And for my money (and temperament), it’s more fun. More power to the cheerleaders in each hometown. May they do us all proud.
I enjoy the examples the author puts forward—thumbnail sketches that capture a moment, an activity, a seasonal ritual. Sheesh. I’ve never had ice cream at Hunnicut’s. Had to do a search for it on the internet. Now I want to go. And I am left to wonder just how she does order her breadsticks at Pizza King.
Since reading this directive a few weeks ago my eyes have been open to see artifacts of hometown boosterism. I’ve smiled to walk through antique stores and see relics of another year, another place etched in glass, printed on cardstock, sewn onto cloth. In ways various and sundry do we human beings lay claim to home and foster (or monetize) hometown pride.
I applaud the author for delving into Muncie history. My own experience teaches me that learning the history and heritage of a place is a shortcut to seeing and appreciating the everyday in new and compelling ways. It enhances both understanding and appreciation, allows one to be more adept in ways one moves through the chosen world.
Unabashed boosterism is surely a choice, just as much as sour grapes grousing. And for my money (and temperament), it’s more fun. More power to the cheerleaders in each hometown. May they do us all proud.
I enjoy the examples the author puts forward—thumbnail sketches that capture a moment, an activity, a seasonal ritual. Sheesh. I’ve never had ice cream at Hunnicut’s. Had to do a search for it on the internet. Now I want to go. And I am left to wonder just how she does order her breadsticks at Pizza King.
Good for people who get enthused about—well, about anything that excites their passion and catches their imaginations. And if this can be the place they call home, so much the better. I love that this author collects Muncie memorabilia and ephemera. Time passes us all quickly enough as it is. Happy they who have at hand reminders of how things change, how suddenly, and on what scale. And who can appreciate the role they played in making this place we live what it is today.
Kudos to those who themselves appreciate the place where they are rooted in the ground. Kudos to this author for being vocal in supporting, active in doing and making a difference in helping fashion the Muncie yet to come. (and for introducing me by way of this post to the joys of Hunnicut’s!)