Top Quotes: “Our Towns” — Deborah & James Fallows

Background: The Fallows are a couple of journalists who traveled across the country in a small plane over the course of three years to find sources of optimism in unlikely places: small towns and cities. They found a lot of innovative urban planning programs, schools, environmental initiatives, etc. as well as a lot of surprises like progressive city governments and embrace of diversity in areas that vote extremely red in Presidential elections. I loved learning random fun facts about towns I’d been to as well as many I’d never even heard of.

“At the dawn of powered flight, a century ago, it was assumed that writers and painters would want to become aviators and vice versa — because of the unique perspective on civilization and nature offered by the aerial view.”

Sioux Falls, South Dakota

“The dominant tone we heard in Sioux Falls was of people who feel that they have ‘made it’ precisely by getting to the state’s biggest city from the farms or tiny hamlets where they grew up.”

“Sioux Falls is known in the refugee and migrant community for having a strong supportive system. Nearly 10% of the students in Sioux Falls are ESL students — native speakers of 60 languages.”

“Many refugee kids share a January 1 birthday — the default for final entry paperwork.”

Eastport, Maine

“The townspeople set out with a self-conscious and deliberate effort to engineer local language usage to create a positive energy for their town — like changing de-words like depressed, decline, dependent to re-words like rebound, rediscover, renew in the media politics.”

Columbus, Ohio

“Jennie Mock, a housewife from Columbus, became the first woman to fl solo around the world (from Columbus to Columbus) in 1964.”

Louisville, Kentucky

“When there were only three TV networks, the only shows that could make it were those that could draw a mass audience. But with cable and streaming, much smaller and more specialized audiences were large enough.”

American Prairie Reserve, Montana

“Around 2000, there were only four extensive wetland areas in the world that had never been plowed or reaped by mechanical harvester and thus, in principle, might have their original animal and plant ecosystems restored. One was in Kazakhstan, another in Patagonia, and a third in Mongolia. The fourth was in Montana and was more intact than any of the others. Ultimately the ambition is to assemble 5,000 square miles of contiguous land, roughly the size of Connecticut. The cost of assembling this land is about half as much as the cost of a new NFL stadium.”