Multitudes

"F. Scott Fitzgerald once said, 'Yeah, this should definitely be in 3D.'

No, what he said was, '[T]he test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function.'" - Jon Lovett, 5/21/2013

As our van bounded along the Virginia countryside from Blacksburg to Floyd, I found myself glued to my phone's screen on this hilarious and insightful commencement speech by Jon Lovett, a former speechwriter for the President. (this is where I distract you from this post with a link to a much more memorable piece of writing - http://m.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2013/05/life-lessons-in-fighting-the-culture-of-bullshit/276030/).

Lovett's choice of Fitzgerald's quote has stuck with me these past few days, most poignantly as we've transitioned from the gleaming downtown offices of the Carilion's Research Park to the rolling green hills off the Blue Ridge Parkway. Because the quote applies to an individual mind as much as it does an individual state or region. 

As we often do as graduate students, I'm somewhat stretching the quote to fit my purposes. None of the vastly different communities we have seen on this trip - the new, youthful downtown of Roanoke, the business incubators by Virginia Tech, the hectic dairy farm in Franklin County - none of these are in direct opposition to one another.

But they are so very different. In their challenges - whether it's attracting new large businesses to the community, or shielding a community from development that endangers its character; and in their solutions - whether it's investing in high tech jobs and businesses or incubating locally-grown shops and stores. 

I haven't gotten to the point where I can reconcile all of these distinctions, and maybe I shouldn't. But Fitzgerald's quote is a good reminder that there is a vibrant, sometimes contradictory, variety out there - that every conversation we gather our chairs around will have its own flavor of character, challenges, and solutions.