Have you ever seen the show Parks and Rec? It is about people working in the fictional
city government of Pawnee, Indiana. Pawnee
is not a great town. It has lots of
issues and urban decay. The town, like
its residents, is a bit down on its luck.
But, the heroine of the story, Leslie Knope, loves her hometown, despite
its bad side. This town has a snooty
rival town as a neighbor, Eagleton. In
Eagleton, everyone is rich and everything is perfect. And Leslie is always fighting for the
reputation of her beloved hometown against the “evil” neighbors. While not exactly the same, if you live near
me, you might understand my metaphor: my hometown, Newark, is Pawnee. The neighbor town to the west, Granville, is
Eagleton.
As long as I lived in Newark, which was most of my life,
there has always been a weird relationship between Newark and Granville. It is a comparison of apples to oranges, but
if you’re from around here, you know those differences, real or imagined. Newark residents have always thought of
Granvillans as snooty and rich. And Granville
residents have always looked down on Newark residents. Granville is affluent. Newark has a diversity of economics,
including a lot of poverty. Just five
years ago, these differences were mimicked in the farmer’s markets of both
towns: Newark farmer’s market was held in a scrubby vacant lot beside the McDonald’s,
where you just might sprain your ankle falling in one of the enormous pot holes,
whereas Granville’s was held in the beautiful brick streets of Olde Granville,
with organic, vegan, boutique baked treats for dogs. This comparison might be exaggerated, but I
will tell you that recently my school (in Newark) got a water bottle filler
installed next to a drinking fountain and what did my students sarcastically say? “Oh, fancy! I feel like I’m in Granville
now.”
Why does this all matter?
After around 40 years of living in Newark, I have moved to
Granville. My beloved lives in Granville
and I now live there too. However, my
becoming a Granvillan is not without a bit of heart-wrenching. For the past year or so, I have been
introduced to other Granville residents and while I will admit that many of
them are quite lovely people, I still feel some of the tension when I mention I
am from Newark. If someone asked where I
lived, they expected me to say “the village” or which street. By saying Newark,
I caught them off guard. I could feel
the judging of their eyes on me. (And
no, I really don’t think it was my imagination). And conversely, when I mention to Newark
friends that I now live in Granville, they just get a certain look on their
faces, which I understand to mean – how can you
live there? I definitely have gotten
some ribbing for living in Fancy-town.
Why wouldn’t I want to live in Granville? Granville is
beautiful. It has wonderful, tree-lined
streets where people walk their dogs in front of stately old homes. Neighbors have block parties (including mine). The whole town comes out for solemn Memorial
Day events and the Candlelight Walk. The
schools are top-notch and have some of the highest test scores in the
state. Granville is full of people who
have realized the American Dream. It is
Americana in full bloom. But it is not
America. The only way to get to live in
Granville is through economics. You
simply must have enough money to live there.
I could not have lived there until now.
I lived in Newark for most of my life and I was glad that I
did. Newark wasn’t special, but it was
normal. I grew up on Granville Street,
close to downtown. Oddly, I lived in an
area of town with both mansions and very low-income housing. My brother once remarked to me that we lived
in a ghetto. Well, not quite, I thought,
but it certainly had its down sides. At least
I felt that by growing up in Newark, I had seen a broader, more realistic view
of America than others had. I saw the
two sides: the haves and the have-nots of America. In Newark, I had people come
to my door asking for money to get them through the rest of the week or to use
the phone because they didn’t have one.
The house next to me burnt down because the people living in the attic
apartment had their gas shut off and they were using space heaters to keep
their kids warm. That’s real life for a
lot of people. Some things about Newark
aren’t pretty. But . . . things are
changing.
Newark has had a bit of a resurgence, thanks to some creative
people with vision. The downtown has
become a place with busy restaurants and events. The farmer’s market has been reborn as the shining
star of the town with the Canal Market, which may just be nicer than what
Granville has to offer in their farmer’s market. Our schools have all been remodeled and
updated. Newark has a lot to offer. As the Leslie Knope of Newark, I
am very proud of my hometown. Are there
still problems? Sure. There are a lot of people still struggling
with poverty, which may always be true of a town Newark’s size. But, there definitely has been a change, a
polishing up of the rough spots, drawing people to its beautiful, historic
downtown and giving people a new dose of pride.
