I Heard the News Today, Old Boy

The buzz around the office today was the following headline on CNN.com: "GM Plant's Closing Like a Death Knell in Dayton."

From the first rumbling of what the news networks have now named the economic crisis to the Democractic National Convention to Joe the Plumber, Ohio has been one of the prime examples for how bad things really are. Now granted, if you've lived your whole life in Dayton like I have, you've been hearing about the trouble at GM almost since birth. Dayton is a strange place. Musically, we were alled the next Seattle by Spin magazine in the mid 90s, which somehow explains why every Daytonian is assumed to be drinking buddies with Bob Pollard of Guided by Voices.

Dayton has also been compared a lot (and not just recently) to Flint, MI, and living here, you can see where our city could easily find itself in a situation like that of Flint - economically despressed due to major industry jobs that had sustained the community for decades pulling out. We've all known that this was going happen, hoped that it wouldn't, prayed that new companies would recognize the large workforce available to them and move into to replace the lost jobs...but of right now, we'll have to keep praying.

I work in an office, not a factory, but I can't begin to describe the sorrow I felt reading that article. Even some 10 hours later, I'm somewhere between tears and getting sick to my stomach trying to process all of this to write about. As a member of the community, there's such a feeling of helplessness. You want to stamp your feet and shout and demand that these good, hardworking people keep their jobs so that their families will flourish and in turn, the community will flourish.

I'm not going to point fingers or try to blame people in a situation that I don't fully understand. Instead, I'll echo a point that's a personal mantra: support your local community in any way that you can. Whether it's buying your food from a locally owned grocer or a local farmer, or getting a few Christmas presents from a local artisan or craft fair - every little bit helps. I found myself saying it a lot during WYSO's fall pledge drive: if everyone contributes a little and does what they can, positive things can happen. Or, as My Morning Jacket says in their song "Librarian":
Cause everything'd be grrreat...everything'd be good...if everybody gave...like everybody could

Speaking of My Morning Jacket, the reason I quoted that song is because that's what I'm playing on the air right now. I think a lot of my broadcasts better express what I'm thinking about something than I can in words. I've often mused that within a single show, I write all sorts of open letters to people through music sometimes without even realizing it. Sometimes it's the lyrics or the juxtaposition of two songs. Other times it's the sheer sound or the tempo. Most people think that the music is the art in radio, and it's certainly a big part of it. However, there's a lot to be said for the artistry that goes into putting a show together.

We'll expore that further some time in the near future.