On Being Midwestern
But the midwestern town was depicted somewhat differently. It was an “inheritor of values of a mythological founding generation” and a “battleground for the characteristics and actualization of those values,” with the result that it “became the center of a conflict about the future of the country itself.”
phil christman • Small-Town USA
. In lieu of nostalgia — which would feel naïve — an unsettling aimlessness prevails. It’s heavy to bear witness to, and the locals have developed unceremonious grit in response.
40 parting thoughts from the Midwest
Yet I didn’t sense a worry that things had gone awry; in fact, it was by passing through these communities that I accessed an emotion at the core of conservatism: why would I change anything?