The view from Middletown: voters seem embarrassed – not angry
|
Version 0 of 1. I’ve arrived in Muncie and, with the generous help of local people and readers, have started finding my way around both literally and metaphorically. There’s a lot going on here. City Hall is under an FBI investigation; two big conservative donors, the Koch brothers and John Schnatter (CEO of Papa John’s Pizza), have donated $3.25m to Ball State University, Muncie’s biggest employer, for an Institute of Entrepreneurship and Free Enterprise; and there are competitive races for both Indiana governor and senator. My first dispatch, which you can now read here, gives my initial impressions in the three days that I’ve been in Muncie. A few local people have laid out the social geography of the town, which is clearly economically and racially segregated as well as between town and gown – one kindly gave me a tour. But when it comes to the presidential election I get a sense that people are a bit embarrassed by the whole spectacle. That could be projection and it’s early days. But it’s only coming up when I raise it; and when I do they raise their eyebrows with knowing derision. In the next instalment, with the help of historians and sociologists, I’ll be examining the claim that Middletown was ever an all-American archetype, and looking at what that might tell us about American nostalgia for a past that never was. You can catch up on the project in full here, send us your thoughts or recommendations here and get involved on Facebook here. Gary Youngeeditor-at-large The Guardian |