Everyday Life in Middletown
Directive: January-February 2019
Muncie
Directions: This directive asks you to share your thoughts and feelings about Muncie, the town most of you live in and the town at the center of the Everyday Life in Middletown project.
Feel free to use your creativity in expressing your thoughts and feelings about Muncie. You can write this out as an essay or a set of disjointed observations, or any other way you like. You do not need to answer the questions below in order (though you may do so if you wish). But do try to address all of the questions, in one way or another, in your response.
The main question we want you to address is: What do you think and feel about Muncie?
Write as little or as much as you like. A good guideline for length would be the average length of your day diaries for us.
As with your diaries, your directive entries will be published anonymously in our on-line archive. While we will not publish your name or any personal information, it is up to you to decide how much or how little about yourself you want to reveal in your writing and to filter out personal information accordingly. As with the diaries, we will review your directives for personal information and contact you if we have questions or concerns.
Optional: Take a photograph that you think typifies Muncie in some way, and send it along with your directive response.
Please return your answer to us by Feb. 12.
Questions to address in your answer:
- How long have you lived here? If you were not born here, indicate where you came from and why. I’ve lived here close to two years. I spent most of my childhood in South Whitley, and came here to pursue a Master’s Degree
- Are you happy with where you live? Do you feel like you belong?
I’m content, if not strictly happy. The rent is cheap, there’s enough space, and the location is nice. Don’t know about belonging: far enough off campus to be separated from the student body. My politics/beliefs don’t really line up with Indiana anyway, and not much for urban living. Muncie is still kind of strange to me.
- Do you expect to stay here for long? What are or will be some of the considerations in deciding how long you stay here? I’ll at least be here another year. Mostly the duration of my stay depends on available career opportunities after completing my degree. It’s hard to say if I will stay near Muncie, or even in-state
- How would you describe Muncie to someone who has never been here? What are its most distinctive characteristics? Muncie seems…sedate. Outside of the campus and immediate surroundings, it seems like a town that is collectively “going through the motions.” There are some pockets of energy around town, but it mostly seems stuck in place and spinning its wheels.
- Do you think the ways other people think about Muncie are the same ways you think about it? How do you your thoughts and feelings about Muncie differ from its public image (from media or word-of-mouth around the state and beyond)? I think I would not be alone in my general perception. I’ve heard plenty of people comment that Muncie died when the plants shut down, or comment about the dreariness of the town as a whole. Maybe I just lack the perspective, but I don’t really see the “revival” I’ve heard about in recent months.
- What are your feelings about Muncie’s future? What are your hopes for Muncie? How do you expect Muncie will fare in the years ahead? What changes do you expect?
I think Muncie needs a different way forward. Honestly, I think it should invest itself even further into the University and education as a whole. The need for education will never go away, and establishing a powerful reputation for academic excellence in grade school and college will draw more people in, while boosting the service-type businesses and other small businesses that cater to the university students. I think forging a collective model based around the students might give Muncie a new sense of purpose. In the future, I think Muncie will either move away from industrial reliance for a new economic model, or it will continue to decay and wither in the coming years. I expect a few more notable large-scale employers will ultimately close, but it’s possible local government will try to lure in investors by emphasizing the concentration of students who might be groomed for positions.