"Huddled into icy plains of North Dakota, Napoleon is essentially the same place it was 25 years ago. And by most accounts, 50 and 75 years ago. The demographics and economics are static. Most of my high school classmates have taken over their family farms, tilling and planting the land of their parents’ parents’ parents. The same people drive the same block of Main Street to the same three-lane grocery store owned by the same family. The same houses have fresh coats of paint, but the grain elevator still towers over all else.
The farming community around Napoleon had no economic boom, unlike the far northwestern part of the state, where fracking detonated everyone’s lives. And Napoleon had no bust, like the drought-infected farmers of the southwestern part of the country...
I am finding the rhythm of my pitch.
“All scientific experiments require two conditions: a static environment and a control — a testable variable that changes. Napoleon is the static environment; technology, the control. With all else being equal, this place is the perfect environment to explore societal questions like, What are the effects of mass communications? How has technology transformed the way we form ideas? Does access to information alone make us smarter?”...
“I was talking to a friend on my PS4 who lives in Portland, Oregon,” he says, yanking me from reverie. He knows people in Portland! I didn’t even know people in Fargo. “He said his senior class is like 600 kids, and the class under him is 500. That’s more than this whole town.” His sense of himself in the world intrigues me. Trying to sympathize, I tell them my apartment building in New York also contains more people than the entire population of Napoleon...
I ask about their favorite rappers. They amass a respectable list: Kendrick, Wiz, Jeezy, Kanye, Juicy J.
But what’s your favorite music?
“AC/DC,” says Jaden, without hesitation.
“My parents are driving to the AC/DC concert tonight in Fargo,” adds Tyler. “The whole town is going.”
https://backchannel.com/the-internet-really-has-changed-everything-here-s-the-proof-928eaead18a8#.orj6cuxl3
I guess the answer that he comes to is 'no' or 'in some ways'. It makes me think about what we mean by "change" and what we mean when a place/home/town changes. It feels like something to do with the continuity of people and "kinds" of people or people who share in the same culture and are part of the same named community.
It sounds like Napoleon hasn't changed, but there are more ways for people to spend them time, more tools for them to achieve the same things they used to - like shop for dresses.
The farming community around Napoleon had no economic boom, unlike the far northwestern part of the state, where fracking detonated everyone’s lives. And Napoleon had no bust, like the drought-infected farmers of the southwestern part of the country...
I am finding the rhythm of my pitch.
“All scientific experiments require two conditions: a static environment and a control — a testable variable that changes. Napoleon is the static environment; technology, the control. With all else being equal, this place is the perfect environment to explore societal questions like, What are the effects of mass communications? How has technology transformed the way we form ideas? Does access to information alone make us smarter?”...
“I was talking to a friend on my PS4 who lives in Portland, Oregon,” he says, yanking me from reverie. He knows people in Portland! I didn’t even know people in Fargo. “He said his senior class is like 600 kids, and the class under him is 500. That’s more than this whole town.” His sense of himself in the world intrigues me. Trying to sympathize, I tell them my apartment building in New York also contains more people than the entire population of Napoleon...
I ask about their favorite rappers. They amass a respectable list: Kendrick, Wiz, Jeezy, Kanye, Juicy J.
But what’s your favorite music?
“AC/DC,” says Jaden, without hesitation.
“My parents are driving to the AC/DC concert tonight in Fargo,” adds Tyler. “The whole town is going.”
https://backchannel.com/the-internet-really-has-changed-everything-here-s-the-proof-928eaead18a8#.orj6cuxl3
I guess the answer that he comes to is 'no' or 'in some ways'. It makes me think about what we mean by "change" and what we mean when a place/home/town changes. It feels like something to do with the continuity of people and "kinds" of people or people who share in the same culture and are part of the same named community.
It sounds like Napoleon hasn't changed, but there are more ways for people to spend them time, more tools for them to achieve the same things they used to - like shop for dresses.
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