Everyday Life in Middletown
Summer directive, 2025
In this directive we ask you to write about identity/belonging and to reflect on your efforts as an EDLM volunteer writer. As always, feel free to use your creativity. You can write your directive out as an essay (or as two essays), as a set of disjointed observations, or any other way you like. You do not need to answer the specific questions in order (though you may do so if you wish).
When we asked EDLM volunteers to describe Muncie in 2019, a major theme was the sense that Muncie was “divided,” especially by race and class. In this directive, we would like you to write about your identities and whether Muncie is congenial to people who share your identities.
Questions to consider:
1. What identity or identities are important to you? These might include race, class, ethnicity, and/or gender/sexuality, but they may also include others (Job-related? Familial? Related to hobbies or enthusiasms? Religious? Political? Other?) How do these identities impact your everyday life (if you think they do)? To what extent is Muncie a good place for someone who shares these identities? Why or why not?
2. Since we are winding down our diary collection at the end of this year, we want to ask you to reflect on your time as an EDLM contributor. How has the experience been for you? What have you gotten out of it? Has keeping diaries (and answering directives) changed your sense of everyday life? Of Muncie? Of anything else?
Feel free to answer even if you’ve only provided one or two diaries.