One of the most common things we've experienced as we visit various communities around the state is how, despite being connected with relatively nice roads, many communities are disconnected from communities in neighboring counties. Even within small counties, we find a lot of division among communities. Why is this?
It is certainly a human characteristic to organize ourselves into "tribes". We have a built-in need to feel safe and connected to a small group of people whom we can trust. We want people who know us and that we know well.
It has been often observed that geography plays a role in how a society forms. Terrain can literally help form personalities and the history of a place and a people. West Virginia is an interesting case study for that theory. When you drive through portions of West Virginia, such as the Southern Coal Fields, you feel the mountains right up on you, almost hugging you. You see how homes rim the hollers, looking down on the railroad and the small stream or river that exists in most of these towns.
Isolation permeated most of West Virginia's existence until just a few decades ago, and many argue it greatly influences who we are today. After all, we're the children of parents and grandparents who experienced this isolation for their entire lifetimes. It's easy to forget, in today's modern world of highway systems, telephones, cable TV and the Internet, that just moving from one town to the next by driving over a mountain could be quite a challenge. It's hard to image that Rt. 60 was the major road into Charleston until the interstate was built. As late as 1977, it took well over an hour just to pass down the mountain, cross a bridge over the New River, and go back up the other side on what is now a two minute driver of the New River Gorge Bridge.
Today, many parts of our state still live in relative isolation. They are not connected to super highways. Some still struggle with cable television and Internet connectivity. But for the most part, our state is not in the same isolated condition it was. The question is, does the culture we've developed over the decades of isolation hurt our chances for success in a globally connected, highly diverse world? And if so, how do we form a new culture that retains the best of our past with new, open-minded, collaborative skills for the future?
New media options are a possiblity. We notice that most counties still have their small weekly paper that almost exlusively covers the goings-on in that one county, but rarely reports on the activities occurring just over their border in a neighboring county. One entrepreneur, Lisa Minney, has sought to solve that problem in Central WV with a new media offering called Two Lane-Livin. Her content is delivered via print through hundreds of locations in rural Central WV, but also via the Internet. She covers news, entertainment and other happenings across an entire region, which in a powerful way begins to redraw the lines of what a "community" is in that region.
Internet-based social networking tools such as Facebook, MySpace and Twitter are other options. There is a thriving group of West Virginians, mostly young and middle-aged, using these services. However, we do find the most active folks are from some of the larger West Virginia cities such as Morgantown, Huntington and Charleston. What would happen if more small town folks tapped into the power of these tools?
Some shy away from these services because they perceive they are only for young people, or even because they've heard horror stories of how predators roam these sites. While everyone must be diligent and practice common sense when using the Internet (or the phone, or television, for that matter), the fact is they are used by many, many adults who are successfully finding friends, family members and schoolmates online.
They are also helping groups such as Create Huntington keep their group informed and connected towards a common goal. They are even helping former WV state natives stay connected to their old communities. Imagine the possibilities of tapping into former high school or college graduates now living outside of West Virginia who may want to invest in their old community?
In addition to this blog and newsletter, Create WV is very active on Twitter and Facebook. We invite you to join us online and stay connected to other creative communitiy advocates around the state and beyond. And consider how your community could get more organized, recruit new volunteers and build partnerships with the entire county or even other like-minded communities from around the state.
You can find a list of WV-based blog sites (short for "web log") that cover many aspects of life in West Virginia by visiting www.304blogs.com.
It's a whole new world where technology can continue to reduce the social barriers our beautiful terrain may have built up, while maintaining the unique wonder of our mountains. Our concept of "community" can evolve that include much fewer barriers.