Editor’s note: I often think about our small, rural county in terms of the administrative borders that help define it, compared with the more natural ones I encounter when traveling through the region.
Focusing on the more natural ones — centered around lifestyle, tourism, values, politics and so on — would help integrate us more in our region. It would make us more influential too. We tend to be too “isolationist,” to our detriment. Here’s a fascinating article that looks at America’s “invisible” borders:
“When we think about borders, we tend to think of administrative boundaries,” according to The Atlantic. “Those demarcating lines, often grown out of rivers and mountain ranges or diplomatic quirks, govern our daily lives, and that’s doubly so if we live near a neighboring country or state.
“We know that these boundaries are on some level unnatural. Driving around Kansas City, where I live, makes this abundantly clear. Gas price differences aside, it can be difficult to tell which state you’re in, Missouri or Kansas, and the small street of State Line Road does nothing to make it clearer.
“But are there more organic borders, brought to life by our own actions and activities? I recently set out, along with a team from MIT and AT&T, to see if I could find an answer.
The rest of the article is here.
Filed under: Uncategorized
This is fascinating article. Certainly the California and Oregon border is an easy one to feel. I wonder if the geographic “borders” we all know in Nevada County could be teased out from demographic records. To me this area in general seems to have a certain “draw” to it yet at the same time it is also very diverse. I think that more tolerance here could turn this diversity into a gold mine of a rich culture. Tolerance starts in the middle and works its way out to the extremes. If those of us in the middle with more tolerance speak up tolerantly, we will all be better off.
Really interesting. Thanks Jeff.