If it should be true that small-town Whitewater faces a choice between difficult times now or an extended decline before an out-of-town-led gentrification, that her decline will otherwise be slow but no less signficant as a result, that stakeholder (special interest) politics grips the city, and that this stakeholder politics is really an identity politics…
Culture
City, Culture, Ethnicity, Liberty, Politics, Race
Philosophy or Identity?
by JOHN ADAMS •
Imagine a choice between living in a universally free society where one was of the racial or ethnic minority, or living as a member of the racial or ethnic majority in a universally oppressive society. Which society should one choose? A man or woman, committed first to liberty, would choose to live in a free…
Culture, Politics
Anecdotes About Politics in a Small Town
by JOHN ADAMS •
I posted last week about how it’s mistaken to think that most leaders in a small town are direct, forthright (see Plain-Spoken in a Small Town? Not Most Leaders). Here are two stories about how politics sometimes works in a small town. At a candidates’ forum last year, I had the pleasure of seeing a…
City, Culture, Economics, Politics, School District, University
Plain-Spoken in a Small Town? Not Most Leaders
by JOHN ADAMS •
There’s a quaint – but false – notion that people in small towns are uncommonly plain-spoken, even blunt. One sometimes sees examples of this in films or books, where residents are depicted as folksy straight-talkers (“shucks, I don’t cotton to no one abusing nobody,” etc.). I’ve never heard anyone in Whitewater speak so colorfully, and I’ve…
City, Culture, Local Government, Politics
Twenty-Five Years On: School Board & City
by JOHN ADAMS •
Alternative title: Culture Advances While Beyond Politics Far Lags Behind. Over at the Banner, there’s a new feature entitled, “A mini-look at local history – a new Banner Monday project!” The 10.10.16 entry is about two public actions from twenty-five years ago. I’m all for history (local or otherwise), but the entry is telling coming from a…
Art, Culture
Origins of the ‘Comic Book Font’
by JOHN ADAMS •
Comic book culture is mass culture — even lacrosse moms and field hockey dads who’ve never been in a comic book store can recognize the “comic book font.” But calling it a font is a misnomer — as the above video shows, this distinctive style of handwriting is an aesthetic shaped by culture, technology, and…
City, Culture, University
Dorm-Construction Isn’t the Big Story
by JOHN ADAMS •
Karen Herzog of the Journal Sentinel has a story about delayed dorm construction at UW-Whitewater. At least, that’s how she’s framed the story, how many will understand the story, and how both UW-Whitewater and Herzog would, no doubt, like readers to understand the story. Here’s what’s more significant even than the need for additional sleeping…
Culture
Culture Without Grandiosity Works Best
by JOHN ADAMS •
Whitewater’s best accomplishments are mostly social ones, and they are most effective when they’re held simply, without grandiose local claims. The Independence Holiday events, City Market, Farmer’s Market, Discover Whitewater Series, semi-annual Science Fair, Make a Difference Day, art fairs, and Christmas parade, among other events, are much to Whitewater’s credit in-and-of-themselves. They showcase…
City, Culture, Development, Economy
Culture, Economy, Fiscal
by JOHN ADAMS •
The approximate number of working age adults, from 25-64, in the City of Whitewater proper is 4,134. This working age population is nestled among a total, estimated population of 14,801. See, American Community Survey, 2010-2014, 5 year estimates http://factfinder.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/ACS/14_5YR/DP05/1600000US5586925. One can draw three broad but reasonable conclusions from these numbers. Culturally, local publications present a…
City, Culture, Politics
Ad Hoc Policy is Debilitating
by JOHN ADAMS •
A municipal policy of addressing problems as they crop up, principally on an ad hoc, piecemeal basis, will wear local government down, and only produce worse policies. (Ad hoc policy, that is, literally a for this [purpose] policy.) One should begin each discussion and problem from the vantage of a fundamental philosophy of government, adjusting…
Culture, Games/Puzzles
Words of Advice from One of Britain’s Finest Philosophers
by JOHN ADAMS •
Someone mentioned to me today that she would like to play Pokémon Go, but that she was worried that she’d seem silly to others. I replied that as long as she enjoyed the game, and walked about safely, others’ views of silliness shouldn’t matter. She needn’t have accepted my word for it, however. Noted British philosopher…
Art, Business, Culture
The Art Market (in Four Parts): Patrons
by JOHN ADAMS •
The Art Market (in Four Parts): Patrons from Artsy on Vimeo. What motivates patrons to fund artists’ wildest dreams? How has the concept of art patronage changed over time? And what’s behind the dramatic rise of private art museums? In the third installment of “The Art Market (in Four Parts),” we explore how and why…
City, Culture, Local Government, Politics
Do you remember when Gen. MacArthur called for dedication to ‘Duty, Honor, Country, and Local Government’?
by JOHN ADAMS •
Do you remember when Gen. MacArthur called for dedication to ‘Duty, Honor, Country, and Local Government’? Neither do I. He called, of course, for dedication to Duty, Honor, Country. It wouldn’t have occured to him to exhort a commitment to municipal government. America speaks – when she speaks most movingly – in the language of…
City, Culture, Politics, Puzzles/Tricks
The Colors of a Rubik’s Cube
by JOHN ADAMS •
Imagine that one sees a Rubik’s Cube for the first time, on a table nearby. Three sides of that six-sided object are visible, displaying small squares of red, blue, and white. Consider this initial puzzle: What colors are the other three sides? How would one determine, with confidence, the colors on those sides obscured from…