JB Jackson

I found JB Jackson’s writing to be very interesting. During my undergrad years at the College of Idaho, I watched and was involved in the revitalization projects in downtown Caldwell. While the restoration of Indian Creek and Main Street was certainly interesting and beautiful, I hadn’t thought about the changes needed to be made beyond the cosmetic level before I read this article. I believe that part of the reason that we, as a society, deal with failing city/town centers in this way (i.e. cosmetic over political changes) is that it is much easier to deal with cosmetic changes than it is to acknowledge and seek to change the major political and social failings that have led to mass poverty. I particularly enjoyed the final quote he included from W.A. Crook, who said, “This crisis is one of human worth.” The very idea that a healthy and safe town may still be impoverished if it does not help the individual’s work and social life is one that changed my idea of city planning.
On a lighter note, the reading reminded me of one of my favorite television shows, Feasting on Asphalt with Alton Brown. The show is a culinary/cultural history project that follows Alton as he travels around the country looking for truly local food that is off of the “franchise highway,” a similar idea to Jackson’s idea that the truly American places, which are different from the typical “small-town” look, are off the beaten path. I believe that it is the small, unknown towns that are perhaps the most interesting parts in America and tell the story of our country better than larger than many bigger cities. Alton quotes Herman Melville who said, “It is not down in any map; true places never are.”