Anywhere But Here

Study abroad programs and foreign service projects are becoming increasingly popular at IU.

I’m sure that this trend is not unique to our school, but represents a larger trend among American universities and American students.

Another trend among students, particularly those from Indiana and other Midwestern states, is a disdain for their own hometowns.

Over and over again I have seen the sarcastic roll of the eyes as someone mentions the place where he grew up, then the gleam of excitement in the same eyes at the mere mention of studying abroad.

The same provincial town in France from which a young person is clamoring to leave suddenly becomes the ideal destination for a young person from the States.

It is reminiscent of the immaturity of a teenager who is embarrassed by his own parents, and by the teen who imagines that everyone else’s parents are better, cooler and certainly more desirable than his own.

Studying abroad is admirable. Going abroad is worthwhile and rewarding, but it should not replace a sense of place here at home.

It is in some ways easier to build houses, to work in soup lines and to cultivate urban gardens abroad — or even in some obscure place in the U.S. — than it is to care for our own hometowns and for those suffering there.
It is often easier to be kind to a stranger than to our own family members.

Most people in college praise buying locally, farming locally and preserving local culture and tradition.

And just in case you doubted them, they have a bumper sticker on their car proving  their loyalty to the movement.

How easy it is to display slogans rather than meet the farmers in our towns.

How much more popular it is to buy a tablecloth made by some artisan in India than to buy one from an artisan in our hometown.

Locality is not as exotic as people portray, it is real people with just as many faults as those living in some obscure town in France.

Localism is hard work. It is not sexy or glamorous.

Most likely, buying locally in Indiana will not mean buying granola from some 20-year-old who really likes Arcade Fire — although it could if we would stick around and sell it ourselves.

It will mean buying chicken eggs from a guy named Bill with a John Deere hat who holds political views that you won’t agree with.

So buy not-so-glamorous wares from people in your towns and cities this summer.

And make sure that you are going toward something and not from something if you study abroad or leave the Midwest.  

­— Mthomas5@indiana.edu