‘The Era of the Small Town has Passed’

Travel Blog  •  Eva Holland  •  08.07.09 | 9:50 AM ET

In The Smart Set, Jessa Crispin reflects on the dual pop culture mythologies of small town America—the nostalgic’s warm, sleepy hamlet and the horror movie’s lurking nightmare—and the ways in which both miss the point. Her conclusion is stark: “[T]he era of the small town has passed, and if all we ever remember are these false versions, we’ll never understand what we’re losing.”

For my part, I think there are more nuanced portrayals of small-town American life out there than those she mentions—see, for instance, John Updike’s earlier short stories. But I take her point about the dominant portrayals being cartoon-ish more often than not. My proposed remedy: some real-life exposure. Trans-American road trips for all?


Eva Holland is co-editor of World Hum. She is a former associate editor at Up Here and Up Here Business magazines, and a contributor to Vela. She's based in Canada's Yukon territory.


2 Comments for ‘The Era of the Small Town has Passed’

pam 08.07.09 | 7:38 PM ET

I just completed an epic (to me) middle America journey and I agree, you gotta get in to those towns and make them real. Dubuque, Iowa? Lovely. Chester, Montana? Windy and with sharp edge. Etc. Amen.

Sophia 08.08.09 | 10:30 AM ET

I suppose she is right, the era of the small town has passed—I drive through small towns on decline all the time. I think lots of people would like to live in small towns but there simply isn’t an economy to support them. Do we blame Wal-Mart? The decline of farming and manufacturing? I suppose it’s a little of this and a little of that. Perhaps technology will someday create new ways for people to support themselves outside the big cities and small towns will have a renaissance.

When my husband and I were in a supermarket in Truth or Consequences, NM—whose historic downtown streets are full of the empty storefronts of arty businesses that didn’t make it—the checker asked, “You passin’ through or or movin’ here?” “Just visiting,” we said. “Good,” he said glumly. “Don’t try to stay.”

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