Whitewater’s a small town, but it has more than one culture within its nine square miles.
(There’s a separate issue, suitable for another time, about whether it’s legitimate to have more than one culture or method from Whitewater’scity government. It’s not; unlike diverse private life, a representative government cannot legitimately allow its officials and employees different standards from that of the community.)
In private life, however, many combinations are, and should, be possible.
What’s characteristic about Whitewater over these last ten years or so is that a supposedly common view of life here has collapsed. Some see as much; others refuse to see it. Many grew up or arrived with the idea of one Whitewater, but that’s no longer true. Wishing for it will neither obscure change nor restore an older condition.
Consider just a few statements made in town, or from nearby places. For those who made them, they seem perfectly true and reasonable. For others, they seem odd or ill-considered.
- Ongoing businesses that display a window sign for a program entitled, “What you Will Need to Know When You are Ready (or Not) to Sell Your Business.”
- “One of the primary purposes of the next meeting is to ensure the construction site is properly protected in anticipation of UWW students returning to campus.”
- “A major reason for a styled-up front [of a public building costing more than 8 million] was to create curb appeal for the thousands of motorists who travel Highway 51 into the city each week, he said.”
It’s part of Whitewater’s lingering past that some will see them as sensible; it’s part of her transition to something new that others will see these statements as odd. The older group overestimates its size and ability; the newer group underestimates its own.
(Election results reveal change, and because of that the older faction avoids any other accurate, comprehensive surveys of popular opinion, lest the extent of this transition be made more obvious.)
Here we are, in flux.