An apparent Fourth of July celebration, possibly during World War I, shows Main Street in Deer Lodge, Montana. Today the buildings look much the same but the globed light posts disappeared years ago and the fountain was moved to the courthouse lawn. Photo from Model T Forum.
By Kevin S. Giles
Hometowns fascinate me.
It appears I’m not alone. I see a proliferation of “I Grew Up In (Name Your Hometown)” social groups on Facebook, the preferred social media for nostalgia-inclined adults. I have my hometown and I’m sure you have yours. Get involved. Let it all out. Make some true confessions. What’s the point of living if you can’t admit that you, and some fine senior classmates, toilet-papered your English teacher’s house on Halloween?
I’m speaking for a friend, of course.
Some years ago a graduate of my high school, from a younger generation, lived four months at our house while completing her optometry practicum. We spent many hours comparing notes on our hometown. Never mind that circumstances had changed as the years passed. We spoke a common language, knew our roots, celebrated our mutual appreciation for small town trivia.
She reminded me recently of our excitement in sharing our “abundant tales” of our hometown. Well put, Haley.
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To me, hometown news sells
Older people will remember how newspapers once covered “society news” that included events such as card parties, social benefits, club elections and homecomings. (“Visiting at the home of Mr. and Mrs. John Doe was their son James, who recently completed basic training at Ford Ord. He is a graduate of Powell County High School and ….”) You get the idea.
My novel ‘Summer of the Black Chevy’ grew from memories of my hometown. The novel also takes place there, in Deer Lodge, Montana.
After I went to journalism school at the university I questioned why newspapers, especially weeklies, would waste their time on these seemingly trivial accounts. (“Farmer and Mrs. John Doe motored to Deer Lodge over the weekend from their Helmville ranch to visit friends and shop on Main Street. They said the road was particularly rough from recent rains ….”) Early in my newspaper career I referred to this “chicken and dinner” news, as we called it, by another name — drivel. Pardon my sarcastic view from back then. It was neither fair nor informed.
Today, I hold a much different opinion. Today, I think hometown news is golden.
It’s astounding to me that weekly newspapers largely moved away from this type of social reporting. Wouldn’t including a “hometown” page in each edition offer a powerful pull to prospective readers who want to stay in touch with each other?
People yearn for it. Social media confirms it.
Hometowns provide the human touch
Last summer I attended my hometown’s first all-class high school reunion. An older man who pulled into the cow pasture outside the pavilion where it was being held set the tone for the weekend.
“What year you graduate, sonny?” he asked me after we parked our cars.
“I’m from the Class of ’70,” I told him.
“Wet behind the ears, are you?”
“Why? Your year?” I asked.
“Class of ’50,” he said, extending his hand.
I spent the weekend meeting people I never knew, finding several I did, discovering that those name tags hanging around our necks made for a great community treasure hunt.
You never know who’s on the other side of those tags until you ask.
No thrill like autographing books
I sold some books that weekend in my hometown, participating in a book signing on Friday at Old Montana Prison visitor center, which stocks my books Jerry’s Riot and Summer of the Black Chevy. Before I left that day, I went to the shelves (and the storeroom in the back) to autograph dozens of copies in stock. It’s a rush for an author to see stacks of spanking new books waiting for readers.
I presume they’ll all sell soon. Right?
The reunion drew hundreds of people. Dozens of people, some of them opening with, “Are you the author?” asked about my books.
Because, well, it’s my hometown.
Hometowns are all about diving into our deep well of memories. We remember people who helped us and those who hurt us. Time embraces our triumphs. It often wipes away our painful moments.
Hometowns bind people. We meet people who share that hallowed ground and talk for hours. Memories vary between generations as a town’s complexion changes. Still, the foundation is there. People of all ages wear their hometowns like a badge of honor.
Hometown memories, we have a million of them. They stay stacked in a closet in the mind until we discover them all over again.
And, the power of nostalgia
The past cements them together. I wrote this in a previous story:
“Hometowns, I think, are best remembered through childhood eyes. It’s possible that people who stay and grow old in their hometowns don’t have the abrupt memories of someone who lived there and left. Adult life has a way of wearing off the sharp edges. Nostalgia isn’t necessarily romantic, or should be romanticized, but it does appeal to our primal need for security and belonging.”
I don’t care to relive the past, but to honor it. As all of us do.
Buy! Mystery of the Purple Roses
Western Montana native Kevin S. Giles wrote the popular prison nonfiction work Jerry’s Riot, the coming-of-age novel Summer of the Black Chevy, and a biography of Montana congresswoman Jeannette Rankin, One Woman Against War, which is an expanded version of his earlier work, “Flight of the Dove.” His new novel, Headline: FIRE! is the third in the Red Maguire series. Masks, Mayhem and Murder is the second. The first is “Mystery of the Purple Roses.” More information is available at https://kevinsgiles.com.